A Conspiracy of Ravens
by biggiebig101
Summary: What would happen if Harry found friendship during his visit to Diagon Alley? What if one of those friends had a darker past than they let on? Join them as they venture through their Hogwarts schooling! Pairings not yet decided. Grey!/OC Powerful!/Harry Smart!/Harry Manipulative Dumbles, Weasley bashing, Helpful McGonagall. Rated M for future violence, language, and adult themes.
1. Discovering Magic and Friends

Hello once again audience! This is my second attempt at writing a fanfiction. I would and probably could continue my first one but the differences in writing styles that I had when i was 16 versus my 23 year old self now would be glaringly obvious. I hope you wind up enjoying this, its been an idea bouncing around my noggin for a while now. This fic will also take place in the year 2017, and it will also be the canon's first year as well! I would most likely screw something up with technology and the like if I tried for the 90's. The pairings are also not known at this time. So... Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing involving the Harry Potter series, or other mentioned series of books. I own nothing of the games, movies, or tv shows that I reference at any point throughout the entirety of this fic. They all belong to their own makers/creators and such. The only things that are mine are my, hopefully, original ideas and OCs.

 **A/N on 5/1/2017 I will be updating the current chapters to have the '** -CoR **' as seperators of a sort, sorry for the false update, I'll probably upload the fourth chapter as an apology gift. xD Have a wonderful day!**

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"So, as you see Mr. Beck, your son has been chosen to go to one of the most premier wizarding schools of the world. He has shown great strength within his magic, especially for someone who hasn't gone to any school for it yet!" The older looking lady said, sitting upon a cushy armchair in a homely living room. "Though I will have to get into contact with the headmaster about his... companion. I don't believe she will be allowed via the school's charter. Thats not including the problems of caring for her, there being other animals and the like and whatnot." She continued, whilst eyeballing the furry little creature with caution.

"Who? Lily? She's harmless! She actually gets along great with cats and the like, we have 2 cats also. She is probably the only reason my son is actually as calm as he is, he had a bit of a trauma when he was younger. There was an incident while we were on a family outing, and he came back hugging her to his chest with both of them covered in blood. We never could get the full story out of him, but we chose not to pry." Mr. Beck said, taking a small sip from his mug of coffee. "She hasn't let the boy out of her sight for more than a few hours since then. We chalked it up to them just needing eachother for comfort."

"Well, I will send a quick message if you would allow me too?" She asked, looking to the other individual, a shorter, plump woman who looked friendly and intimidating at the same time.

"Sure, its fine with us. Isn't that right honey?" She said, looking at her husband innocently.

"Yes, Dear." He said in a sarcastic tone, smirking all the while, earning himself a swat across the back of the head for good measure without losing his smirk.

"Trippy!" The elderly lady called. A small 'pop!' was heard as a small elfish looking creature appeared between her chair the the couple's couch.

"Yes Mistress Kitty? Hows may Trippy help yous?" The halfling, according to Mr. Beck, asked while executing a small curtsy.

"I need you to take this letter to the headmaster for me, and wait for a reply. Its not urgent, but its needs answering quickly, please." The now named Mistress Kitty asked kindly, with a slight blush of embarrassment, quickly conjuring some parchment and writing the message. Trippy then curtsied, and popped away with message in hand. "So, while she is delivering my message, do you have any questions?"

The husband looked at her with a bit of amusement, but didn't say anything on his mind. He just shrugged nonchalantly, before asking. "How much does his schooling and such cost? Are there uniforms, books, supplies, room and board, transportation fees and the like? We are well off as a family, but aren't exactly rich."

"The only things you yourself would have to buy would maybe be an owl, for if you wanted to send your son letters during the year, though there are school owls for such occurences. You may also buy him extra books, a better trunk, extra writing supplies, or anything that might catch your eye while you we are out shopping for his school things. Everything else is paid for through a trust fund supplied by the school itself which pays for the year's books, uniforms, potioneer's supplies, wand, and a regular trunk." She replied with a small wave of her hand. "Many muggleborn's parents are curious as to that. There is a bank in the shopping area that you may exchange your money for the wizarding currency as well."

"Alrighty then! Sounds good to me! And you said 'we' were going shopping? I'm guessing you're showing us where that is and when are we scheduled to go?" He asked in an excited manner, getting a swat from his wife again.

"I'm sorry for my husband's childish behavior. He can be quite a handful at times." Mrs. Beck said with a slight glare at her husband, who was rubbing the back of his head and grumbling under his breath about abusive women and always targeting his for some reason.

"Its no problem Mrs. Beck, I think it's better that he is excited about it instead of being against the whole thing. Not all non-magical folk are quite as understanding as you are being. We sometimes have.." She said, being interrupted by another popping sound. Trippy had decided to reappear at that point.

"Trippy bes returning to deliver Master Whiskers message, Mistress." The little elf said excitedly, bouncing from foot to foot while holding out a scrap of parchment for her to take.

"Thank you Trippy, that will be all I need for now." She said after recieving the message and giving the elf a nod and a smile. The bouncing elf gave a small squeak and popped back out the room again. "Lets see.. The headmaster said it would be acceptable for him to take her with him. As long as she is companionable to others and doesn't cause any problems with staff or students, she will also be allowed with him in his classes." She said whilst reading the note, looking at them after stowing the parchment into her pocket.

"Perfect! How does that make you feel Caleb?" He asked, looking over to his son who was sitting playing on his phone with Lily laying across his lap, napping.

"Sounds better, since I can take her with me. When do we leave then?" A young boy of eleven said, brushing some of his hair out of his face, and readjusting his glasses to see better.

"Right now if you and your parents are ready to go shopping, but I also have another family going with us. I thought it would be easier if we got both families done at the same time, and it would give Caleb someone of his own age to get to know before school." Mistress Kitty said, giving Caleb a small smile and looking to his parents for the answer to her question. "One quick question though. Is your family from the States, by any chance?"

"Why yes, we actually are. After the incident with Caleb, we decided a change of scenery was needed, and I had some family here in England, so we shipped off and found this amazing living area. I'm guessing our accents gave it away?" Mr. Beck asked with a slight smirk.

"Partially, the way you speak also gives it away." She said with a nod walking towards the door.

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"This is the entrance to The Leaky Cauldron. It is the only non-magical way into Diagon Alley, which is where we are headed." The now named Mrs. McGonagall said, leading them into a somewhat suspicious door. As they were making their way through the bar, both of the men were greeting eachother and eyeing the bar with a gleam in their eyes. The wives both rolled their eyes seeing this, and grabbed their significant others by the ears, pulling them along to the snickering of the children.

Speaking of the children, they had been quite friendly together already. Caleb, who is somewhat short, with dark brown hair to his shoulders, some freckles on his face and squarish glasses, turned to introduce himself to the young lady next to him. "Hi, my name is Caleb. What's your name?" He asked politely, smiling and holding out his hand.

"I'm Hermione, it's nice to meet you Caleb." She said, brushing some of her hair behind her ear. Hermione herself was about an inch or so taller then him, with long, bushy brown hair and a pretty smile. She also reached her hand out and lightly shook his hand, enjoying having someone her age along for the exciting ride that this shopping trip was going to be. "Not to be rude, but why do you have a dog with you?" She asked with a smile, nodding towards the small ball of white fur trotting along behind them, attached to a leash that Caleb held. The small ball of fur just so happened to be a completely white pomeranian, but she had a large spot of black fur that covered her ears and eyes, like a small hero's mask.

"Oh, Lily? She's my comfort companion. I don't do well with crowds and strangers unless she is around. She's friendly if you wanna pet her, all you have to do is let her sniff your hand first. Its kinda like an 'asking for permission' kind of thing." He said, kneeling down and petting Lily, who sat by his leg and looked at Hermione expectantly, making Caleb chuckle.

Hermione then knelt down next to them, holding her hand down to Lily's snout as she was asked to. Lily sniffed her hand for a few seconds, then proceeded to lick her hand a few times before bumping her forehead against her hand gently. "That means you have her permission." Caleb said with a nod, turning to make sure the adults didn't leave without them. He let her pet and rub Lily for a little bit before he gestured to the adults, who were waiting in the back doorway, watching them interact with eachother.

They both stood up and made their way towards the back door, both full of excited energy, unable to wait to see the shopping alley. Mrs. McGonagall showed them which bricks to tap with their wands to get into the alley, before stepping back to allow the kids their first sight of Diagon Alley. Both children and adult alike were amazed. They were looking every which way that they could, trying to take in all of the sights. There were clothing shops, a shop with every kind of odds and ends from telescopes and globes to furniture and blankets. There was a pet shop, mostly consisting of owls, cats and rats. There was a book store, broom store, wand store, potion supply store, and a trunk store. There seemed to be shops for everything you could ever need from a magical point of view. "Are there no grocery stores here?" Caleb piped up, raising a very good question.

"I never really thought of that part." McGonagall said, looking around and shrugging berfore she started walking forward. "We will be going to get the money you need to buy your school supplies from the bank, if you lot will follow me." She said, beckoning them to follow her. They made their way to the bank, with the children bringing up the rear, both talking excitedly about which shops they wanted to go into and what kind of books they wanted to buy. They also talked about which subjects sounded intersting to them. They both liked the sound of transfiguration, but Caleb was more interested in charms.

"Halt!" A gruff voice said, making them all stop and turn to their right. The voice came from a burly, armored goblin who was pointing at Caleb. "You can't take the animal into the bank. Either wait outside with it or take it home." It continued once it had their attention. Charles, Caleb's father, was about to protest but was held back by his wife.

Caleb shrugged and sat down on a bench outside of the bank. "It's ok dad, I'll wait out here with Lily. Banks tend to be boring anyways." He said, waving them into the bank, smiling when Lily hopped up onto his lap.

"I'll wait with him." Hermione said, surprising both Caleb and her own parents. This was mostly surprising because she hadn't really had many friends in her childhood, to which she seemed to have made a friend in just one day in the wizarding world. It made them both smile and nod at her, giving her their permission while the adults all started walking into the building with McGonagall.

"Thanks Hermione. It's nice to have someone to talk to while one waits." He said to her, giving her a smile while Lily walked over to her lap, demanding attention. Caleb laughed at his dog's antics, happy she liked Hermione so much. "Seems we all mades some friends today, eh?"

"Yes. It seems we have." Hermoine replied, petting Lily behind her ears while smiling at Caleb, happy to finally have some friends of her own. Books are and will always be part of her life, but she felt that having other people as friends would be more fun in the end. "And I'm happy to wait with you, since banks usually ARE boring for the most part."

They then started to talk about what books and games they liked, finding out that they had both read mostly the same genres, but entirely different books or series of books from one another. Like they both liked adventure books and he liked the Orion series by Ben Bova which is more scifi-esque while she liked the Sherlock Holmes books, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and other mystery novels. They also found that they were both somewhat film lovers. While they were talking they would usually make statements that referred to movies or shows they had seen, making the other laugh when they got it. It turns out that Caleb was really the only one into video games like Borderlands and Left for Dead and such, while Hermione preffered puzzle games and the like.

After about twenty minutes, the adults came strolling out of the bank, laughing and smiling whilst conversing with one another. It turns out the children weren't the only ones to make friends that day. The kids stood and walked along the alley with the group as they made their way to the first store, Madam Malkins Robes for All Occasions. They were to be fitted for their robes it seemed. While the children were being fitted, the men went to get the potion supplies and cauldrons, while the women went to get the trunks and telescopes the kids would need, with the women taking Lily with them.

As Hermione and Caleb were leaving the store, a small boy with round glasses and messy black hair was walking in. Caleb held the door open for him. "Afternoon! How are you?" Caleb asked.

The boy stammered out a nervous reply of "Uh.. Good so far. How's yours?" he asked.

"Fantastic! Hope your day ends on a good note!" Caleb finished before letting him through the door, and walking away with Hermione towards where their parents were waiting for them outside of the bookstore. They noticed that the men seemed to be carrying all of the baggage that was caused by the shopping, and looking apprehensive at letting the book savvy children roam free in a large book store. This was causing some amusement with the women, but they just chalked it up to something parents did. The kids told their mothers that their robes would be ready in roughly an hour before walking into the store with the women, leaving Lily with Charles.

While the mothers grabbed the required books, with McGonagall pointing them out, the children skimmed through the shelves to see what might interest them. Caleb found a few books like 'Charms for the home', and 'Easy Charms for Charming Things'. Hermione found a few books that were more of the informational type, like 'Hogwarts, a History' and 'Famous Wizards of the Ages, 1910 - 2010'. The books looked interesting to both, so they made a deal of once they finished reading theirs, they could trade off. They brought their books to the mothers, looking sheepish at the stacks of books that both kids had on hand.

Once they finished buying their books and writing supplies, the children and women went to get their wands, leaving the men to get the childrens' trunks. Caleb walked ahead and opened the door for the women, bowing in a joking manner and saying "M'lady." to each one as they walked through, earning himself some "Thank you's" in return. Hermione even braved calling him a gentleman. Caleb followed after, Lily trotting next to him happily. The shop seemed to be dingy and dark. _'Not very good for attracting customers.'_ Caleb thought . As they entered, a low chime sounded somewhere in the back of the dingy shop.

"Good afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen." A mysterious voice sounded from behind the counter, where Caleb could have sworn nobody was a few seconds ago. He just chalked it up to magic. "I see you are still bringing me the muggleborns, Minnie? It's nice to see you in good health. How's your wand treating you? Fir and Dragon heartstring, stiff wooded, if i remember correctly?"

"Yes to all of the above, Garrick. I will be bringing the muggleborns here for many years to come, if I have my way." Mrs. McGonagall replied with a slight nod of her head.

"So, let us have the young lady come forward. I will need the parents, and Minnie, to have a seat. This may take a while. I believe the longest it took to find a wand took me roughly two hours." Garrick said, pulling a measuring tape out of his pocket, letting it zip towards Hermione, measuring anything it could reach. It measured her arm length, head width, the length of each finger, her forearms, shins, feet, bridge of her nose, bust, waist, hips, and started going towards her face before Garrick intervened. "That's enough. Bloody thing has a mind of its own anymore. Can't leave it unsupervised. Might have to redo the bloody charms on it." Garrick started grumbling under his breath as he perused the shelves covered in long, thin boxes.

"Let us try... This one. Ash, seven and a half inches, supple, good for defense." He said, handing her a box. She pulled the wand out and looked at it, then him, in confusion. "Go on, give it a flick!" He said with a wave of his hand.

Shrugging, she gave it a small flick, causing a stream of water to jetison acrossed the room, drenching her father. This amused everyone in the store, except for the drenched individual.

"I think not." Garrick said, swiping the wand from her grasp and handing her another one. "Holly, unicorn hair, eight and a half inches, flexible wand. Great for healing and charms."

She gave it a wave, and before they knew it, a stack of paperwork on his counter exploded into confetti! "Thats a new development.." Garrick muttered in amusement, shaking his head and taking the wand back. This continued for about twenty minutes or so, Caleb didn't really pay too much attention. In the end, she wound up recieving a wand of vinewood, dragon heartstring core, ten and three quarters inches long. Both Hermione and Garrick seemed happy with the match, given their matching smiles.

"It seems it is now the young gentleman's turn." He said, turning towards Caleb and raising an eyebrow. "Though I sense a strong connection between you and your companion. May I examine her for a moment, please?" Garrick asked, gesturing for Lily to be put upon the counter. Caleb shrugged and looked to Lily, who gave him a small huff, giving him permission. Caleb then gently picked her up, placing her on the counter and stood next to her. Garrick then waved his wand over Lily, muttering under his breath in some foreign language nobody else seemed to understand.

"This is... Most interesting... It seems your magic is connected with hers, Mr. Beck. Would you mind if I took some of your hair for making a wand, Milady?" Garrick asked, looking to Lily. She just puffed up in pride, giving a slight nod, surprising all but Caleb. Garrick then conjured a small brush and gave her a few strokes, coming out with a small ball of white fur. "I'll be right back, I just need a few minutes to see if her fur is even capable of being used as a wand core."

"A magical pomeranian? Who would have thought that was possible?" Charles stated in an amused manner, looking at Lily curiously. Lily just looked at the group with an air of pride, making Caleb smile. While they were waiting, everyone just conversed in a congenial manner. Caleb and Hermione talked about what house they thought they might be in, and other small talk as they petted Lily.

"It seems that her fur will work just fine as a wand core, though I highly doubt it will work for anyone besides yourself. It will just take me an hour or so to fashion the wand for you." Garrick stated, looking between Caleb and his parents for an answer.

"That would be fine for us. We could always go and grab some lunch and ice cream while we wait for it to get done. Isn't that right honey?" Brenda asked in an innocent voice, looking at her husband with a smile.

"Yes! Of course! Anything you say my dear! You're always right, love! This lowly peon of a man would willingly grovel at your feet just to recieve your attention!" Charles replied, bowing at the waist after every sentence, gesticulating with his hands in a regal fashion. "Is there anything else your majesty requires of her - OW! What the hell woman?" He yelled, holding the back of his head, rubbing it roughly after having been swatted upside the head by his wife.

"Would you like to join us Jean? John?" Brenda asked, looking to the two Grangers with a questioning smile as she stood, picking up a few of their purchases.

"That sounds lovely Brenda! We would love to join you, wouldn't we John?" Jean replied and looked at her husband. She did a slight double take, seeing her husband about to go into the same spiel that Charles had but she decided to cut it off. "Yes or no John? No fanfare or theatrics needed. " She said with a small smirk, seeing him deflate slightly at the missed oppurtunity.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea to me, if the kids think so as well?" He asked, looking over to the kids, seeing their eyes light up with excitement and nodding to their parents enthusiastically.

The group decided to head to one of the cafes that they had seen on the way through the alley. Once they were all seated and had ordered their food, they decided to discuss random topics amongst themselves. The children were discussing what books they had bought and which ones they were planning on buying in the future, while the adults just conversed about their careers and what they did for a living.

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After eating their lunch, Caleb and his parents went back to Olivanders to retrieve his wand. The Grangers and McGongall decided to go and pick up both kid's robes, having taken a liking to the Becks. As Caleb and his parents walked into the wand store, Caleb noticed the raven haired boy testing out wands for finding his match. Giving a small smirk, the Becks sat down in the chairs on the side next to someone who towered over everyone. The giant of a man looked up from his newspaper, noticing someone had sat down next to him. "Why 'ello there! Pleasure meetin' you! Let me budge over a bit." He boomed in a friendly tone, scooting his chair over a bit to help make room for the family of three, plus one fluff ball.

Caleb, Charles, and Brenda all exchanged pleasentries with him, learning his name and that he was the other boy's guide through Diagon Alley for the day. They learned that Hagrid was the Groundskeeper and Keeper of Keys for Hogwarts. Caleb brightened a bit, being able to befriend someone else who worked at the school and looking forward to going even more. It also helped that Lily had hopped into Hagrid's lap, bringing a large smile to the large man's face, and had ellicited a conversation about Hagrid's love of large animals of any and every kind, be it dragons or acromantulas. Caleb added his love of anything furry and four legged to the conversation, making fast friends with the friendly half-giant.

Once they boy, now known to everyone as Harry, finished recieving his chosen wand, having caused a warm wind to blow through the store, Caleb introduced himself and his family. Caleb talked to him for a few minutes while Garrick walked into the back of the shop to retrieve Caleb's wand. Caleb and Harry talked excitedly about what they were looking forward to from school, both boys excited mostly about just experiencing something new and grand compared to what they were used to. After a few minutes, Garrick walked back into the front of the store, carrying a long and thin redwooded box. The closer Garrick came to Caleb, the more Caleb could feel himself being drawn to the box.

"It seems that I chose perfectly for your wand components, Mr. Beck. This wonderful work of art is 9 1/2 inches long, a mix of two woods, and two cores. The woods consist of an especially aged, magical redwood tree, and a wonderful bit of yew tree that I had found during my travels in my younger years. The cores themselves are actually astounding on their own accounts. The magic from the fur of your companion drew another core type to itself during my process of inserting the core. It drew the heart string of an exceptionally ferocious norwegian ridgeback. It's actually the only piece I was able to get from the sales clerk. It was mightily expensive, as well as his last part. I won it in an auction." Garrick explained, starting to ramble, much to everyone's amusement. After a few minutes of Garrick's rambling and grumbling, Caleb finally decided to pull him out of his reverie by cleaing his throat.

"Wonderful anecdote, Mr. Ollivander, but I was wondering if I could have my wand now? Please." Caleb said, controlling the smirk from crossing his features. Caleb walked up to the counter, patiently holding his hand out as Garrick placed the wand into his grasp. The moment that the wand was dropped into his hand, Caleb felt a pulse of energy shoot from his very center and out to his extremities. As he was feeling this, a shower of golden sparks spewed from the wand's tip. Caleb felt like someone had injected him full of adrenaline, after having just pulled him off of an overly exciting roller coaster. It made Caleb feel all warm and tingly in places he would probably never talk to anyone about. Thats besides the point though. "Woah, that felt AWESOME!" Caleb exclaimed, holding his wand in the air, as if he had won it from a hard fought battle.

Caleb looked at the wand in his hands, examining it in finer detail. The handle itself was made up of the redwood, wilst the rest was made of the lighter colored yew. The handle was slightly curved, giving him a better grip on it, while the butt end of the wand was carved into a likeness of Lily's head. Caleb smirked as he looked at it, leaning over to show Lily the wand. Lily gave a small huff of pride, puffing out her chest and making the adults laugh. Caleb resumed his examination, noticing that the front end of the wand had a light carving of a dragon, a Norwegian Ridgeback he assumed. Caleb gave an approving nod at the wand, then gave a light bow towards Garrick. "It's a beautiful wand, Mr. Ollivander. I am glad I am able to be the one worthy of wielding such an item." Caleb complimented, twirling the wand between his fingers, getting used to the weight of it.

"The pleasure of making such a fine wand has been lost to me for quite a while, Mr. Beck. I am quite pleased that you approve of my artistry. Usually the children recieving their wands just find their wand and leave with them. Very few actually examine them as thoroughly as you have. It also pleases me that I have had two powerful reactions to wands, like yours and Mr. Potter's were. I usually only get one every couple of decades or so." Garrick replied, returning Caleb's bow with a slight bow of his head.

"Well.. I uh.. I kinda see myself as a.. Lover of weapons. Weapons of any type will do for the most part. I have a large collection of knives and swords at home." Caleb replied, scratching the back of his head in slight embarassment. Caleb glared lightly at his father after hearing him scoff.

"It seems we'll be off for the rest of our stay here in Diagon Alley, Mr. Ollivander. It was nice meeting you. Oh! How much do we owe you?" Charles asked, reaching into Caleb's pack to grab his bag of gold coins.

"Nonsense! There will be no charge for the oppurtunity of making such a fine wand! It was actually gratifying in the fact that I was able to do so after so long. I've also not been able to use a different core material in several decades either." Garrick replied, waving his hand as if to swat a fly.

"Well, is there some sort of holster for the wand or something? I wouldn't want to place it in my pocket and accidentally break it by falling down some stairs or something." Caleb asked, honestly curious. If there weren't, he could make a fortune by making and patenting wand holsters.

"Why yes, I do sell them actually. I have either a holster that hooks to your belt, or a wrist holster. I will also give you a deal. If you buy two holsters, I will give you a third for half off! It's very rare that I actually sell holsters, let alone to new students." Garrick replied, slightly breaking Caleb's idea, but encouraging him with a good deal. Caleb thought about it for a second before looking at Harry, gaining a smile.

"Hey, Harry. How would you like a holster for that new wand of yours?" Caleb asked, giving Harry a smile and gesturing the the three holsters that Garrick had brought out from the back. Harry gave him a grateful smile and nodded. They struck a deal that Harry would buy one at full price, leaving Caleb to buy the other two. Caleb and Harry were talking excitedly as they walked out of the store, both wearing new holsters and sliding their wand into them. Mr. Ollivander had explained that they had an enchantment on them that allowed them to flick their wrist and the wand would fly into their hands. Though he also mentioned that it would take hours of practice to get used to actually catching the wand. The boys were laughing at each other as they both tried a few times, sending their wands clattering to the ground as they walked.

As the group was walking towards The Leaky Cauldron to take their purchases to their rented rooms, Hermione and the Grangers wound up catching up to them, with Caleb introducing Harry to Hermione, and vice versa. Caleb suprised Hermione, and her parents, by giving her the holster, free of charge and everyone sharing some smiles. "I thought that it would be a nice addition to your wardrobe. In addition to not having to carry your wand in your pocket i suppose." Caleb said, smiling at Hermione as she let out a squeal of excitement, letting Harry explain how to put it on, as well as explain how to summon her wand into her hand. Both Harry and Caleb had a good chuckle when Hermione's wand flew a few feet away from the group, making her blush lightly before sticking her tongue out at the boys.

The rest of the evening consisted of the kids taking a booth in the corner of The Leaky Cauldron, playing games, talking, reading, and eventually eating their dinners. After dinner, everyone bade a goodbye to McGonagall, with the mothers making promises of dinner plans with her. The children were then ushered upstairs into their seperate rooms, bidding each other goodnight. Caleb, Harry, and Hermione all three fell into peaceful slumbers, having made several friends that day and looking forward to a year of, hopefully, more friendships and adventures.

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Well then! That actually wound up being a lot longer than I expected it to be.. I actually wound up getting into a bit too much detail in certain areas but its a work in progress! I'm quite rusty one my writing skills, wasn't really all too great to start with though. I would appreciate faves/follows/reviews and such! I'll be trying to keep a nice update schedule of probably a chapter every 2 weeks. Can't wait until the next chapter! Have a wonderful day everyone!


	2. Train Rides and Student Sortings

Hello Once Again Audience! This is the second installment of Conspiracy of Ravens I can't wait to get into the ideas that made me truly wish to start writing this fic. Read! Enjoy! (Hopefully)

I will be trying to keep to, roughly, a week between updates as a schedule. That should give me enough time to continue to write the next couple of chapters, while letting my wife correct my mistakes and such. Happy reading!

Disclaimer is in the first chapter.

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The Leaky Cauldron: Room 3a

Caleb woke up after a peacful night of sleeping in his somewhat comfortable bed in the room he was sharing with his parents. Caleb rolled over to see what time it was from his watch, which he had put on his night stand. Noticing it was only roughly around eight thirty, he rolled over to go back to sleep. As he was falling back to sleep, he felt a rough tongue run its was from his chin, up his cheek, and all the way to his eye. Sitting up quickly, he looked down to notice Lily sitting on his pillow, looking at him innocently. "Yeah, yeah.. Time for me to get up apparently. I guess I'll go and get my shower and get packed then.." Caleb said, wiping the slobber off of his face and hopping to his feet, making his way to the bathroom quickly.

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The Leaky Cauldron: Room 7b

Harry woke up to the rustling of feathers from his owl, Hedwig. He sat up slowly and stretched a bit, getting a few kinks out of his back. He got up and made his way over to his new pet, smiling as he did so. "Morning Hedwig! Thanks for waking me. I need a shower and such before we head to the train station." Harry said to her, popping a few owl treats into the cage and scratching her along her chest a little bit, recieving a hoot in reply. Harry then grabbed his shower things before heading into his bathroom, smiling with hope that today would be a start of a wonderful school year.

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The Leaky Caldron: Room 12a

Hermione woke up with a light yawn, having slept much more peacefully than normal. She absentmindedly wondered if she slept so well because she had tired herself out so much while spending time with her new friends. She instantly perked up at that thought. ' _I actually have people that I can call friends! My short time in the Wizarding world has already been better than my time in that of the non-magical.._ ' She thought, letting out another smile as she stood and walked to the bathroom to get ready for the day.

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The Leaky Cauldron: Main floor

The adult Becks and Grangers were already eating breakfast and drinking their morning coffee with Hagrid, waiting for the children to finish getting ready for the trip to Kings Cross. The adults were all becoming fast friends with eachother, which was making Hagrid happy, as he himself didn't really have many friends outside of the staff for the school. As Tom made his rounds of refilling everyone's coffee, Caleb and Harry made their way downstairs whilst lugging their trunks between themselves. Both of the boys were laughing between themselves about something Caleb had said. Seeing Caleb interact with someone his own age brought a smile to Charle's and Brenda's faces.

Caleb and Harry walked back upstairs, following Hermione, carrying her two trunks down and laying them on top of their own beside the exit of the tavern. Hermione thanked the boys, who both gave a small bow to her, making her giggle as they walked over to the table with the adults. Breakfast was served to the children while laughter and conversation were in abundance.

Around ten thirty, the adults payed the bills for the food and drink and began preparing to leave for the station. The children all helped load the trunks and such into the boot of their respective vehicles. Hagrid decided to let Harry ride with the Becks to the station, stating that he seemed to be in good enough hands. The kids bade him a fond farewell while the adults all shook his pan-sized hand. After Hagrid left in a flash of green fire through the floo, everyone made their way to Kings Cross.

As the group was walking through Kings Cross, they wound up passing a large group of redheaded people, hearing the mother talking loudly to her children. "Oh.. How do we get to Platform nine and three quarters again? It's hard to move around secretly with all of these muggles running amok." The plump looking witch was whipping her head back and forth, as if looking for someone. The group of redheads wound up gathering under the archway between platforms nine and ten.

The Becks and the Grangers just shared confused looks but awaited their turns. Harry, Caleb and Hermione were confused but decided to just chalk it up to the akwardness of wizards. Once the ginger-headed family made their way through the portal, Hermione and her mother went next. They were soon followed by Hermione's father, John. Charles volunteered to go with Harry, making the boy slightly happy that there were adults that would look out for his well being, even though he barely knew them. Caleb and his mother followed almost directly behind them. As they passed through the portal, Caleb noticed the difference of noise between King's Cross and platform 9 3/4. While King's Cross was full of busy muggles and the occasional wizard or witch, it was relatively quiet. The platform for the Hogwarts train, however, was bustling with children, adults, owls, cats, and the occasional frog. It was really very noisy and Lily seemed to huddle further into the corner of her kennel to help nullify some of it.

Harry, Hermione and Caleb all loaded their trunks onto the train, hopping back off to say their farewells to their parents. Caleb and Hermione gave their phones to their parents, not wanting them fried from the ambient magics of Hogwarts. Harry more or less just hung back while Caleb and Hermione hugged their parents, at least. Though once they were finished with their farewells, Charles and John walked forward and held their hands out for Harry to shake, surprising him that they wanted to say goodbye to him. He shook their hands timidly, exchanging farewells and nodding to Brenda and Jean. Hermione, Caleb, and a happier Harry made their way onto the train, dragging their trunks along to find a compartment that they might be able to share. Once they were close to the back of the train, Caleb signaled to the other two that he found a compartment with only one other person in it.

The girl in question had light blond hair that reached down to just below her shoulders. She had a dreamy look to her eyes, though the lower half of her face was covered by a magazine by the name of The Quibbler. Caleb was slightly confused as to why she was reading it upside down. Shaking his head, Caleb politely knocked, making the girl look up from her magazine and gesture he could enter. "Hi! My name is Caleb, and I was wondering if I and two others would be able to sit in here? Most of the train compartments were full besides this one." He asked with a smile. The girl seemed to think about it for a few moments, studying his face as if to see if he was being sincere or not.

"Sure, I don't mind you sitting with me. As long as you aren't bringing a certain redhead with you, that is." The girl replied, scooting closer to the window and gesturing at the door as she finished speaking. Caleb smiled and nodded his head in return, walking back out into the hall and grabbing his trunk and kennel, pulling them into the compartment. Caleb and Harry helped put all of the trunks up onto their racks, with Harry putting Hedwig in the seat closest to the window across from the blond.

"Well miss, I'm Caleb Beck. My two and a half companions are Harry, Hermione, and Lily." He said, gesturing to each individual in turn, getting a small muffled bark from Lily. "Yeah, yeah. I'll let you out ya spoiled little.." Caleb grumbled, releasing the lock from the kennel and placing the now empty kennel up onto the rack beside his trunk.

"My name is Luna Lovegood. Though most people call me Loony.." She said in a slightly depressed manner, her eyes drifting towards her feet in dejected embarassment.

Hermione, seeing the girls mood drop, decided to sit beside her. "We personally won't ever call you that, Luna. We've all had problems with bullies or people who think they're better than us in some way, shape, or form." Hermione said in an apologetic tone, lightly putting her hand on Luna's thigh. Luna seemed to brighten up at the prospect of having people be kind to her. "I'd even hazard that we might even be able to be friends, if we gave it a try?" Hermione asked shyly, looking at her feet and looking down at ther hands in her lap.

"Friends? You would want to be friends with someone like me?" Luna asked, suprised that someone would try to be friends with her so soon after meeting her. She didn't really have any friends besides Ginny, and she really couldn't say that she was a friend since all Ginny wanted to do was rant about how badly she wanted to marry the famous Harry Potter some day.

"Yeah, you seem nice enough, and Lily doesn't seem to mind your presence, which is pretty telling in and of itself." Caleb said, gesturing to the fluffball laying across his lap, being slowly petted by him absentmindedly, which was something he did when he was nervous for any reason. "I would enjoy having another friend during throughout our schooling at Hogwarts. Also doesn't hurt that you might be able to help out us muggleborn people. Though I suppose Harry isn't muggle _BORN_ just muggle _RAISED_." Caleb finished, giving Luna a caring smile and gesturing at Harry for the last part, earning him a chuckle from the mentioned boy.

"Oh yes, I'm actually a pureblood, though my family isn't a Noble or Ancient family. We haven't been a Britain-established family for long enough to be an Ancient, and we aren't rich enough to be considered Noble." Luna explained, making Hermione frown slightly about the slightly barbaric way that the wizarding world ran its society. "Though, if you are Harry Potter, as I suspect, the Potters themselves are a Most Ancient and Noble family. The Potter family has been around since the time of King Arthur himself, with one of the Potter ancestors serving amonst the knights of the round table." Luna finished, her eyes flicking to Harry's forehead to see his scar for a brief second, but not fawning over the fact that he is famous or anything, making Harry grateful.

"Harry Potter... THE Harry Potter? The same Harry Potter that helped defeat Lord Voldemort at the end of the war? Huh.. I wasn't expecting that.." Caleb said, looking at Harry with a slightly starstruck face, making Harry's shoulders slump in sadness. "Harry. I care neither for your fame, or your past. I only care, and hope, that you wish to be friends with me." He finished, looking at the dejected boy with a look of sincerity in his eyes, lifting Harry's spirits from where they had dropped to in thinking he had only made friends for being famous.

"Thanks. You and the girls are actually my first friends, besides Hagrid. I was afraid that I had only made 'friends' who were out to mooch off of my fame." Harry said, letting out a relieved sigh, smiling at Caleb, Hermione, and Luna in turn. "I couldn't forget that you also see me as a friend, don't you Lily?" He asked, directing his emerald eyes to the lazing pup, earning a huff and a lick on his outstreched hand. This caused some giggles from the girls, and a questioning look from Luna in particular.

After explaining to Luna as to why they had a pomeranian accompanying them, they began talking about nonsensical things. Luna even pulled out a card deck for something called exploding snap. It turned out that Harry has quite the lucky streak, seeing as how he won most of the games that they played. Caleb was the most burnt, having lost an eyebrow and a half, and his entire face was blackened by soot. They were having so much fun that they hadn't noticed how long they had been riding the train until they heard a knocking on the compartment door.

"Anything from the trolley dears?" An older lady asked, pushing a small cart covered in treats, sweets and cakes galore.

Caleb and Harry looked at eachother than back at the girls. They both made up their minds on the spot. They both wound up buying most of what she had left on the trolley, neither of them having had any of the wizarding treats before, so they wanted to try all of them. Caleb and Harry walked back into the compartment, several galleons lighter and several pounds of junk food heavier. They placed one of their trunks onto the floor in the middle of them all and dumped all of the candy onto it for all of them to pick at happily.

Caleb wound up finding a box of Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans. After Luna explained the inherent risk of eating them, Caleb gained a wide smirk across his features. "I propose a bet! We each put in say... two galleons, and whoever can't eat a random bean gets eliminated! Last person to eat a bean gets the money, any takers?" Caleb proposed, looking at Harry and the girls. They all wound up agreeing to the terms, placing two galleons each on each corner of the trunk.

Each person got as good and as bad as the others did, but Harry and Luna wound up being eliminated. Harry quit after getting a diaper flavored bean, whilst Luna quit after an earwax bean. Caleb had wound up being unlucky enough to get two bad flavors in a row, dirt and vomit, almost making him reproduce the flavor in mass quantity. In the end, Hermione wound up winning, she was lucky enough to get a strawberry flavor, while Caleb got a rotten egg flavor, making him spit it out and start gagging and curl into a ball on the floor, for comical relief.

Hermione smugly placed the galleons into her small purse, winking at Luna in the process and the two girls shared a giggle. Caleb returned to his seat, taking a drink from a can of soda that he had, having stashed a twelve pack in his trunk. "Ugh.. That was horrid. Though I can only say congrats m'lady." Caleb said, nodding to Hermione and holding his hand out for a light high-five. Right as Caleb was opening another chocolate frog, hoping to get a card he didn't have yet, the compartment door slid open forcefully to reveal a shorthaired blonde, with two larger boys trailing behind him.

"I heard Harry Potter was on the train. Are you him? You seem like you would be him. My name is Draco Malfoy, heir to the Malfoy family. You shouldn't be hanging around riffraff like these people. I, on the other hand, can show you the elite families that would be worthy of your attention and presence." The now named ponce stated, pointing at Caleb as he was talking. He sent a small glare at Lily, who had started growling lowly as soon as he opened the door. Caleb just raised an eyebrow at Harry and winked, clearing his throat lightly as he stood.

"Aye, tha's me. Harry Potter's the name, wooing witches is m'ah game. It seems tha' you might be righ' in the fact that I need help in finding better peers to endorse some pressure upon." Caleb said, masking his voice with a well placed scottish brogue, surprising the other three in the compartment and almost making Harry burst in laughter. Caleb then held his hand out, as if to shake his hand. Draco, thinking he had convinced him, reached his hand out to shake his hand. Caleb simply smirked when he had Draco's hand in his grip. The next thing anybody knew, Draco was on his knees, mouth wide open in shock and extreme pain.

"I do suggest ya take back what ya said about m'ah friends. I don' take too well tah people insultin' people who I've come to enjoy the company of. So, if yah'd like tah keep yer hand in an unbroken condition, then apologise!" Caleb exclaimed, giving another squeeze, anger burning in his eyes, gritting his teeth as he spoke in his barely kept 'accent'.

Draco, being as egotistical as ever, tried to draw his wand on Caleb. Caleb wasn't too surprised by the action and showed he was still in control. All Harry, Hermione, and Luna saw was that Caleb raised his left knee slightly. The next thing they knew, Draco yelped in pain, his arm flying backwards and his wand bouncing agains the hallway wall. "Tsk, tsk, tsk.. All yah had to do is apologise, and I woulda gladly let yah go. I don' much like gettin' grease all over mah hands." He said, twisting the offending arm behind Draco's back, shoving him bodily out into the hall against his baboon guards and smirking. It seemed that the 'guards' weren't any good without orders. "Well? What're ya waitin' for? Git!" Caleb said, giving them a shooing motion, making the baffoons grab the blond ponce and high tail it down the train car with several people watching them.

"That was... Extraordinary Caleb." Hermione said, surprised at the slight beatdown that had just occured with little to no movements from anyone. "How did you do that?"

"Yeah, thanks mate. Though I think you just made yourself an enemy for life for that stunt." Harry stated, a smile gracing his face as he reached out to shake Caleb's hand.

Caleb accepted the hand shake, shrugging his shoulders. "All I did was roll his knuckles. Not exactly hard to do if you know what to do, and as for disarming him, all I did was give a light kick to his wrist. If thats all it takes to dislodge a wizard's main weapon, then I fear for them for when they're facing someone hell'uva lot more skilled with a wand." Caleb stated, smirking lightly at Hermione and sitting down to continue eating his chocolate frogs.

"Was Lily growling at them when they showed up? I didn't want to assume anything." Luna asked quietly, looking at Lily curiously. "She didn't seem to growl at any of us when she first met us from what you told me."

"Well, dogs by themselves are great judges of character. Lily is especially protective of me from when we lived in the states, though." Caleb said, shrugging and scratching Lily behind her ears, just the way she liked.

After that small fiasco, the group of friends wound up getting changed into their school uniforms and awaited the train's arrival at Hogwarts. While they were making their way off of the train, Caleb heard a croaking, having been last out of the compartment and making sure he hadn't forgotten anything. He decided to look under the seats, just to make sure and he found a decently large toad. "Ah.. Come here buddy, I'll help you find your owner." Caleb said, holding his hand out. The toad croaked once more before lightly hopping into his outstreched palm, making Caleb smile a little bit. "Thats'a boy. Let's get off this train before we get left behind."

Caleb caught up to the group, making them feel relieved that they hadn't lost him. He explained about the toad, showing them as they were stepping off of the train. The next thing they heard though was the familiar booming voice of a friendly half-giant. "Firs' years! Firs' years over here! Oh! Hullo kids! Have a fun trip?" He boomed jovially, waving his pan-sized hand at them as they walked toward him. They made their way down a somewhat dark and steep slope down toward a small dock. They then saw several small boats and waited by the shore for their instructions.

"No more'n four to a boat! Be careful lads! Don't wanta be fallin' into the lake now, do ya?" Hagrid said, situating himself into his own slightly larger boat. Caleb quickly stepped into a boat, grabbing Lily and placing her onto the floor before reaching a hand up to help the girls into the boat. He recieved 'thank you's from both girls, as did Harry, who had held their opposite hands as they lowered themselves into the boat before stepping in himself. Once all of the students were in boats, Hagrid called out a "Boats forward!", all of the boats launching into a slow gait across what the quartet guessed was a lake. "Watch yer heads!" Hagrid boomed out, the students noticing some low hanging vines from an archway. As They made it through the vines, the sight took the students' breath away. The view of a splendidly large castle, each and every window illuminated with candles, sitting atop a cliff above the lake that they were currently sailing accross.

Once on land, Hagrid led everyone up towards two very large doors leading into the castle proper. Once there, Hagrid knocked, making great booming sounds from his mace sized fists pounding on the thick wood. The doors opened slowly, revealing the very prim and proper Professor McGonagall looking at the new students with a 'no nonsense' look on her face. Though when her eyes fell upon our favorite quartet, she gained a small, almost unnoticed, smile upon her visage. "Thank you Hagrid. Students, welcome to Hogwarts. Follow me please." She stated, leading them through an entrance hall that you almost couldnt see the roof of, into a smaller room with some moving paintings in it. After a small speech about the four houses, and how the houses that they would be put into would be their new 'family', she left them there to inform the headmaster they had arrived. After a few moments of the students being alone in the antechamber, Caleb stepped forward a few steps and pulled the toad out of his pocket, while having Hermione hold Lily.

"Does this little guy belong to anyone in here? I found him in my compartment as we were getting off the train." Caleb stated, holding the toad higher into the air, gaining all of the first years' attention. After a few moments of silent murmurs and denials, they all heard a light cry of "TREVOR!" after which a short, plump boy pushed through the crowd towards the front. Handing the toad over to the boy, Caleb flashed him a small smile.

"It seems like you missed him, maybe try and keep better hold on him yeah?" Caleb asked, patting the boy on the shoulder. The boy flushed lightly and mumbled out his thanks . "My name is Caleb, what's yours?" He asked the boy, holding his hand out.

"My name? It.. It's Neville.. Neville Longbottom." He answered, shakily grabbing Caleb's hand, which Caleb firmly shook.

"Buck up mate. You're in a school of witchcraft and wizardry, one of the greatest in the world! If that doesn't give you confidence, then I don't really know what could. Ya know what I'm sayin?" Caleb stated, gripping the boy's shoulder in and light grip and lifting his chin. "Don't let anyone tell you they're better than you. They might be better at some things, but you have something you, and you alone, will excel in, yeah?" He finished, patting him one last time on the shoulder and walking back over to his group. Caleb started trembling a little bit, confusing his newfound friends, before he kindly retrieved Lily from Hermione's grasp and hugged her. As he hugged the fluffball, she licked his cheek, feeling his tension and trying to comfort him a little bit. Caleb took in a long, deep breath through his nose, and after holding it for a few seconds, released it out through his mouth. He repeated this process a few times until his heart rate had gone down.

"Sorry about that. I underestimated how many first years there actually were. I'm ok-ish with a few people. Anything more than roughly a dozen people gets my heart pumping a little too fast." Caleb quietly said to his trio of friends, still hugging Lily to his chest lightly.

It was at that moment that the school's ghosts decided to pop into the room, discussing the most important topic that was the idea of giving the school's poltergeist, Peeves, a second chance at staying within the school's hallowed halls. After the ghosts drifted off through into the Great Hall, Prof. McGonagall opened the door in front of them, ushering them into a single file line around the house tables. Upon further inspection, they noticed the four tables each had their own colored ensembles. The Hufflepuff table had a burnt looking yellowish-orange and black coloring. The Ravenclaw had a royal blue and dull silver coloring. The Gryffindor had a crimson and gold coloring. While the last table, the table of Slytherin, had the colors of emerald green and bright silver.

Caleb, personally preffered the Ravenclaws colors, since blue was his favorite color, but didn't mind the Gryffindor's colors too much either. He pushed those thoughts from his mind as Prof. McGonagall placed a stool and a very old and battered hat in front of the assembled children and staff. After a few moments of tense silence, the brim of the hat opened and started singing a song! The song itself mostly spoke of each house's prominent features. Ravenclaw's thirst for knowledge, Gryffindor's courage, Hufflepuff's loyalty and hard work ethic, and lastly, Slytherin's cunning. After the song ended, the entirety of the Great Hall burst into applause, though the Slytherin table mostly just gave a light smattering of applause.

Professor McGonagall then unraveled a scroll, looking down at it before she started reading off names of the first years. She started with a cute blond by the name of "Abbot, Hannah". After a few names were called, Caleb looked at his trio of friends and smiled. "Wish me luck?" he said lightly, stepping forward just as the professor started saying "Beck, Caleb". Once all of the Hall's eyes were on Caleb, he started shaking slightly, clutching Lily to his chest as he walked. Most of the females, and especially Professor Sprout, gave out 'Awww's and 'How cute!'s once they noticed what the white ball of fluff in his arms was. Once he reached the front, he gave a half bow towards McGonagall, earning a nod in return, before he sat upon the stool and had his vision darkened by the bill of the hat.

 _"Oh my... A curious mind indeed. You have my condolences for your past endeavors. Your sorting however is actually one of great importance it seems. You show a great amount of cunning, as shown with your run in with a certain Malfoy. You show good amount of the loyalty that Hufflepuff seeks. You show a vast thirst for knowledge. Last but definitely not least, you show a great amount of courage."_ The hat spoke into Caleb's mind, making him sit up straighter in pride. _" I will avoid putting you in Slytherin, you would do well, but the rest of the house wouldn't be as grateful of your placement. Hufflepuff would be a good fit, but doesn't seem like something you would overly care for in terms of people. So... I'll let you choose betwixt the other two houses. Will it be Gryffindor? Or will it be Ravenclaw?"_ The hat finished, making Caleb think roughly of which might be better. With a smirk Caleb nodded his head, reaching up with one hand to remove the hat from his head. Before his hand touched the bill, the hat yelled out "RAVENCLAW!" to the cheering and clapping of the blue table.

Caleb gave a light bow to the hat, and suprisingly revieved one in return. He hurriedly marched to the table of blue, sitting at the end of the table reserved for the first years. Caleb smiled at all who greeted him, hugging Lily all the while. A few more names were called, including a cute brunette by the name of "Brennan, Melinda", who was sorted into Ravenclaw.

Once Hermione's name was called, she enthusiastically jammed the Sorting Hat onto her head, sitting up straight on the stool and fidgeting in anticipation. After only a few moments, the hat called out a loud "RAVENCLAW!", causing cheers throughout the table. Caleb wore a large smile, scooting over so she could sit next to him at the table. Lily showed her happiness by licking Hermione's cheek a few times, elliciting a light giggle from her.

Following Hermione, there was the call of "SLYTHERIN!" for Goyle, one of the blond ponce's cronies, who joined the other cronie, Crabbe or something. There were a few students sorted to "GRYFFINDOR!" and a few to "HUFFLEPUFF!". Finally, "Lovegood, Luna" was called to the stool. Caleb and Hermione were crossing their fingers, hoping to share a dorm with Luna. After almost ten minutes of deliberation, the hat called out "RAVENCLAW!" to an excitable table covered in blue. Everyone at the table was cheering again, but noone was louder than the duo of Caleb and Hermione, with Luna sitting across from Caleb and Hermione.

"GRYFFINDOR!" "SLYTHERIN!" "HUFFLEPUFF!" That, besides applause and cheering, was all that you could hear throughout the hall after names were called out. The most surprising thing to happen though, was when a certain "Potter, Harry" was called, the entire Great Hall went quiet. After a few seconds of silence, the hall erupted into hushed whispering and murmurs of people hoping he was sorted into their houses. Once Harry was sat upon the stool with the hat upon his head, the hall went deathly silent. After roughly fifteen minutes of silence, people started to think he wasn't ever going to be sorted. The hat looked to finally try to start speaking, but looked to be struggling. The hat started twitching back and forth, his 'mouth' opening and closing, and his round bill flapping up and down, almost as if it was trying to fly from Harry's head.

As McGonagall finally decided to see what was wrong and started making her way to the boy on the stool, the hat finally called out a struggled "Raven...CLAW!". The hall was so astonished at the difficulty the hat was having, that the only people in the hall to cheer for their friend was the trio of freshly made Ravenclaws, though it was soon to be back to their quartet. After a few moments of astonished silence, the whole table of blue erupted into an uproar of applause. The Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables seemed a bit put off by not getting Potter, but gave a light smattering of applause anyways.

With the quartet reuninted, they started speaking between eachother, not overly paying attention to the sorting. They found out that Brennan, Melinda ,who would rather be called Mindy, was actually from the states as well, though her family just wished to get away from the horrible political climate. Mindy actually seemed nice, and was able to contribute to the conversations when they turned towards which books they were reading, letting them see just why she was placed into the house of the brains.

Once the sorting was finished with a "Zabini, Blaise" going into Slytherin, McGonagall removed the stool and hat from its perch and left the hall. The headmaster, who everyone recognized as Dumbledore, stood and raised his hands for silence. "Greetings students! To those of you new to Hogwarts, Welcome! To those of you returning for another year of schooling, Welcome back!" He said, giving a slight bow of his head. "I believe that we are all quite famished after such a long sorting. So a few words, then you may commence with the feast! Nitwit! Oddment! Blubber! Tweak! Thank you!" The headmaster stated, sitting down.

As his rump landed upon his seat, the tables all filled with huge assortments of food. There were pork chops, roast chickens, mashed potatoes, french fries, an assortment of gravies, corn on the cob, a large variety of other vegetables, and even platters of cheeseburgers. Harry and Caleb started quickly piling food upon their plates, with the girls sharing a giggle before they politely grabbed food for themselves. Caleb wound up trying something called pumpkin juice, and promptly spat it out into his goblet. "That was horrid... I'll just have a regular juice I guess." He said, making the others laugh and resume their consumption of dinner.

After everyone had had their fill, the tables cleared of food and everyone looked up the the headmaster stood to begin speaking to the assembled body of students. "Well, now that we are all filled to the brim with a wonderfully prepared feast, I would like to make some announcements!" He said, his eyes twinkling in a jovial manner. "First and foremost, the Forbidden Forrest is as its name was given, Forbidden!" He said this while directing his gaze towards to readheaded twins at the table of Gryffs, who gave him looks of innocence in return. "I would also like to inform everyone that the third floor corridor, on the right, is also forbidden to all who wish to not die a gruesome, painful death. Filch, the school caretaker, would also like for me to inform you of the four hundred plus items on the banned items list. If you would like to perruse said list, it is posted outside of his office at all times." Dumbledore said, giving the hall a quick onceover.

After several more announcements, which the newly dubbed quintet didn't really pay to much attention to, everyone in the Great Hall started to rise from their tables. A taller, blond girl stood and walked over towards the first years. Once she had them gathered around her, she started speaking. "Alright firsties, my name is Penelope Clearwater and I am one of the prefects of your house. I will be escorting you to Ravenclaw Tower, if you lot would follow me, please!" She said, walking towards the large double doors of the hall, leading them through the castle proper.

After a couple minutes of walking, they climbed a flight of stairs that led to a door with an eagle head knocker. Penelope then turned around and addressed the firsties again, smiling politely. "This is where our commonroom is, there is no password to the door, you must correctly answer a riddle to enter. If you answer incorrectly, the door will not open for you, and you must wait for someone to either answer the riddle correctly, or to open the door from the inside before you may enter. Any questions?" She asked, looking around and nodding when noone raised their hands. "Who wishes to try to open the door?" With several raised hands, she chose an asian girl, who introduced herself as Cho Chang, before walking up to the door. The Quintet wasn't able to hear either the question or the answer from where they were in the back of the group, but they could see that the door had opened, with Ms. Chang gaining a prideful smile upon her face.

After being directed up gender-separated stairways towards their dorms, Caleb and Harry bid the girls a goodnight. They walked up the stairs, walking into a room that had four beds, desks, a door that led into a large bathroom, wardrobes and a large window that led into a small balcony which overlooked the Forbidden Forrest. Caleb and Harry chose the two beds closest to the window, their trunks magically appearing at the end of their beds, much to their surprise. Caleb sat Lily upon the bed, before popping into the bathroom to change into his sleepware.

Once they were laid down in their extremely comfortable fourposter beds, they both fell into a peaceful slumber, almost as soon as their heads touched their pillows.

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Well! Hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. Sorry if the chapters are a bit long, I just get into a groove and have a hard time stopping. I think I wound up stopping both chapters at a decent enough place. Review/Follow/Favorite at your leisure! Have a wonderful day!


	3. Brooms and Secrets

Hello once again audience! This is the third installment of Conspiracy of Ravens!. Enjoy!

Disclaimer is in the first chapter of this fic.

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Harry was woken up to the sound of some light barking, sitting up with a yawn he looked over at the source, Lily. He let a small smile grace his features as he stood up and walked to the bathroom for his morning duties.

Caleb woke up to the sound of a closing door, and a paw coming down upon his face several times. "Yeah yeah, Lily. I'm up, I'm up.." he grumbled, shoving his face into his pillow for a few more seconds before climbing out of bed to get a start on his day. Caleb waited until Harry was out of the shower before hopping in himself. Once the boys were showered and dressed, they walked downstairs into the common room, making their way over to a couch that had Mindy, Hermione and Luna sitting in it. "Morning ladies, how was your night?" Caleb asked, sitting in a chair opposite of the girls.

Hermione smiled as Lily hopped into Luna's lap, giving her a pat on her head before answering. "It was good, the bed was sooo comfy!" she replied, smiling and giving a small yawn. Mindy gave a big smile and nod, agreeing with her as she yawned as well. The quintet talked for a while before they decided to head down for breakfast and to recieve their schedules.

Once in the Great Hall, Caleb sat Lily down next to himself on the bench, with Harry sitting next to him. The girls all decided to sit across from them, making it the boys and Lily on one side, with the trio of girls on the other. While they were eating, several girls of all ages, including Professor Sprout, stopped at the Ravenclaw table to pet Lily, with Caleb's permission of course. Lily herself was puffed up with pride at gathering so much attention, making Caleb smirk knowingly. Other than that, their breakfast went without a hitch.

"Your schedules, first years!" A smaller professor squeaked. The quintet turned to find themselves looking upon the deminitive Professor Flitwick, their head of house. Each recieved their schedule from him with a smile, with Flitwick lightly patting Lily on the head before moving down the table to pass out the rest of the schedules. Looking down, they began looking over them with frowns on their faces.

"We have most of our classes with the Slytherins.. This should be an eventful year." Harry stated, tossing his paper onto the table. "I'm really not looking forward to dealing with Malfoy for any given amount of time, let alone several hours a day." He griped, rubbing his face with his palms.

Caleb just chuckled and shrugged, placing his schedule into his bag and handing Lily a chuck of his toast. "We'll be fine, he just has to learn that all because he's a pureblood doesn't make him better than those of us who are muggleborn. You heard Hagrid and McGonagall, they both went on and on about how your mother was the brightest witch of her generation!" Caleb said, patting Harry on the back and hoping to make him feel better. "Thats also not mentioning that he himself is only from a Noble house. You yourself are descended from a Most Ancient and Noble house, remember? So you are already his better, in lineage and in personality." Caleb finish, making Harry and the girls all smile at his words.

"I suppose you're right. We might as well go grab our books and ask a prefect for directions to our first classes." Mindy said, finally chipping into the conversation. "Though I suppose boys can't be wrong about _everything_." She finished, smirking at the boys, whose shoulders drooped in resignation.

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After giving their thanks to Penelope, who had led them to their first Transfiguration class, they all settled into chairs in roughly the middle of the room. Caleb was sat at a table with Mindy and Lily, while Harry, Luna and Hermione were sharing a table to their left. Caleb smiled at the fact that he had four friends, besides Lily and his parents, and he had barely just started his schooling into the wizarding world. Little did he know that all of his friends were having extremely similar thoughts. The quintet looked up at the sound of light barking, seeing that Lily had hopped from her chair and up to the teacher's desk to stare at the cat they hadn't noticed sitting upon it. Caleb let out a light sigh, standing from his seat to retrieve his faithful companion. Once he got to the desk however, he noticed that the tabby cat seemed to have a weird coloration in its fur that looked like glasses. Getting what was going on, Caleb gave the cat a small wink before he reached out to scritch it behind the ears.

"This is so worth any trouble I'm going to be in." Caleb mumbled quietly as the cat leaned her head into his hand. After a little bit more petting, He stooped down to pick up Lily, and walked back to his desk with a small smirk playing across his facial features. Right as he sat down however, two boys came crashing in through the doorway, panting with what seemed to be the exertion of making it to class on time.

"Oh! She isn't here yet! We won't be docked any points for being late then mate." A familiar redhead said to his huffing and puffing companion, who just smiled at him before they took their seats in the table at the back.

Caleb just quietly held up his hand, counting down silently from three. On one, the cat jumped from the desk, transforming back into a scowling Professor McGonagall who was glaring at the two panting boys.

"That will be twenty points from Gryffindor for your tardiness, Mr. Weasley and Mr. Finnegan. Perhaps I should draw you a map? Or perhaps I could transfigure one of you into a pocket watch so you could tell the time?" She stated, clearly not happy that two of her own cubs had been late to their very first class. "Now, today you shall be trying to turn a match into a needle. It is quite a simple spell, which makes it a great start for first years." She finished, giving a swish of her wand. With the swish, the box that was on the corner of her desk opened and matches started floating to the students. Each student recieved three matches.

The class transpired quickly and quietly after that. The entire quintet managed to turn their matches into needles with time to spare, earning Ravenclaw twentyfive points in turn. They were also exempt from dealing with the written portion of the homework, though Hermione got permission to do it anyways, making the rest of the four laugh lightly. As everyone was packing up, Caleb was called to be held behind for a minute. Caleb slouched his shoulders as he nodded to the group, telling them to wait in the hallway for him. He then resignedly walked up to McGonagall's desk. "Ma'am?" He said in a questioning manner, placing his bag onto a desk next to him.

"I will be awarding Ravenclaw ten points for your ingenuity in seeing through my transformation. I will also be deducting ten points for your forwardness in petting me." She told him, watching him swell with pride only to deflate in resignation.

"I suppose I deserve that. Though it did seem you enjoyed it, with the way you leaned into my palm, Ma'am." Caleb stated, giving a light smirk at the light flushing of her cheeks, with her giving a small cough as she looked off to the side in embarassment.

"That is besides the point. Some of the feelings and instincts I have are not... always mine, so to speak. Some of them are of the feline that I transform into. You'd think after all these years I would be able to control them.." She grumbled in good humor. "How did you know I wouldn't attack you for getting too close anyways?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Lets just say I have a way with animals. Most of them anyways. Dogs, cats, most four legged critters, most reptiles, and even some wildlife like deer and the like tend to be more passive with me for some reason. I guess that now that I know I'm a wizard, I can chalk it up to my magic I suppose." Caleb answered, giving a shrug and giving Lily a pat on her head with a smile. "Now, would I be able to get a note for my friends and I? I don't wish for us to get in trouble on our first day of classes."

"Hmm? Oh, yes. I think that would be for the best." She stated, jotting a quick note down on some spare parchment and handing it to him. "Just remember, not all animals you come up against might not be so willing to be your friend, Mr. Beck."

"Yes Ma'am. I suppose you might be right, even though I have a perfect track record so far." Caleb said over his shoulder as he left, giving the professor one last smile before shutting her door.

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The quintet sat down for their first class of herbology, talking and joking about Caleb having been reprimanded for his actions. It was mostly the girls reprimanding him while Harry just sat by and let him earn his come uppance. The group was surprised when their quintet was joined by a Gryffindor boy, with him shyly just sliding into the seat and not wanting to disturb anything.

Caleb looked away from the girls, looking to the boy and giving a smile. "Howdy Longbottom! How goes your first day of schooling so far?" He asked in a happy tone.

"What? Oh.. It's okay so far I suppose." Neville answered quietly, looking at the floor with a light flushing in his cheeks.

"Well, that sounds good. Would you like to introduce yourself to the rest of the group? That way we can all be on even ground and such, yeah?" Caleb asked, placing his hand on Neville's shoulder, gesturing to the girls and Harry.

"Hullo.. My name is.. Neville Longbottom, Heir apparent to the Ancient and Noble house of Longbottom. It's nice to make your acquaintance." Neville said in a slightly more proud and hearable tone, making Caleb and Harry smile lightly.

Once everyone else gave a quick introduction of who they were, with Luna already knowing him from social gatherings that they had gone to when they were younger, they learned that Neville was actually quite the herbologist. It turned out that he had a large greenhouse at home filled with a large variety of plantlife, magical and nonmagical alike. Mindy was able to talk to Neville the easiest, with her having a bit of a green thumb herself.

The Herbology lesson went by just as quickly as the Transfiguration class, though Neville gave the entirety of the Ravenclaw contingent a run for their money when earning points from the professor. He wound up impressing the lot of the Claws, solidifying himself as the go-to guy for help out of the first years. Neville himself seemed to hold himself with a straighter back after the class was over, making the quintet glad that they seemed to be helping him out of his shell.

Neville agreed to join them in the Library for some studying and homework after lunch on the next day, which both Ravenclaw and Gryffindor first years had a free period. Saying their farewells, Neville walked off up stairs towards his common room, leaving the group of claws to head off in their own direction. Once back into the common room, they found a set of comfortable armchairs in a secluded corner near the in-room library. While the girls were perusing the shelves of books, Caleb and Harry were playing a game of Cribbage1, Caleb having gotten the board and deck of cards from his trunk upstairs. Caleb was in the midst of teaching Harry how to play when the girls came back over and placed a small stack of books on the coffee table between the chairs and retook their seats.

The boys just shared smirks and shakes of their head at the girls' need to read, continuing their game until the time to head down to dinner had arrived. They all packed their things before heading down as a smiling group towards the Great Hall. After a scrumptious dinner, the claws decided to just call it a night, being tired from an early morning and grueling work during Herbology.

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The next few days went as well as they could all hope, filled with early mornings, fun-filled meals, and challenging classes. Oddly enough, they hadn't had any problems with the Slytherins yet, making Harry and Caleb suspicious. The quintet were heading down towards the dungeons for their first potions class. Caleb and Harry weren't happy that this was the fourth class in the week that they shared with the stuck up Slytherins, but they hadn't really done anything to the Claws that would really constitute anything more than their current grumblings. That seemed to be something that a certain blond first year wanted to change as soon as they arrived outside of the potions classroom.

"So, the Harry Potter fan club has finally arrived, and look at that! They even have their own furry little mascot!" They heard a sarcastic drawl coming from the middle of the group of green and silver clad students. "They even brought along the fake Potter wanna-be! What's the matter? Don't like that you're not from an actual wizarding family, so you decided to fake it?" He continued, trying to goad the blue-clad duo of boys into something.

Caleb just smiled and placed a hand on the shaking Harry's shoulder, giving it a light squeeze before taking a step forward. "Awww.. Is the ickle widdle Malfoy still cwabby that I hurt his hand and feewings? Does the baby need his momma to kiss it better?" Caleb replied, speaking to Malfoy as if he was a baby, making his cheeks quickly redden in anger. Caleb heard the stifling of laughter from behind him, making him smirk before continuing. "I can also see that you're mad that I happened to be more cunning than you, which is kinda sad seeing as I'm a Claw instead of a Slytherin. Hell, all I did was throw on a fake accent and you believed me at my word alone. So you should really be mad at yourself for letting yourself be fooled." Caleb finished, walking into the now-open classroom door after letting his friends through. Caleb seated himself at the side of the table facing in the direction of the door, avoiding being hexed in the back, hopefully.

Caleb followed Hermione and Luna's cue of pulling out some parchment for note taking, as well as his potions book. After a few moments of waiting for the teacher to come into the room, he looked down at Lily, having noticed that she was laying across his bag like a pillow, making him think about ways to get her a small, portable, dogbed or something like it. Caleb's thoughts were stopped by the entrance of the dark robed professor. The students all followed the professor's march to the front of the class, his robes billowing in a flowing manner.

"Afternoon students. You can all put away your wands, there will be no need for them in this class." Snape said in a deep tone to the sound of people placing their wands into their bags. "In this class, I shall be attempting to teach you the auspicious ways of potion brewing. I will teach you how to bewitch the mind and ensnare the senses, brew glory, bottle fame, and maybe even put a stopper in death." He continued, pacing to and fro in front of the class, his gaze passing over the tables of students and lingering on Lily for a few seconds. "May I ask, Mr. Beck, why you have your familiar with you?"

"I have special permission from the headmaster to have her in my company at all times, be that classes, meals, quidditch games, and even detentions. I have her with me due to problematic happenings in my past, until I feel I am able to be comfortably in the atmosphere of each individual classroom. I was also advised by Professor Flitwick that I should ask you to conjure a bubble-head charm for her once we start brewing." Caleb answered back politely, standing as he spoke. Though he noticed Malfoy's raised eyebrow about his troubled past, he chose to chalk it up to him learning something unexpected.

"That seems to be an idea of monumental importance. I personally, as a master potioneer, have no idea if the potion fumes would affect her or not." Snape answered with a nod, pulling his wand out and giving it a flick towards the fluffball laying on Caleb's bag, a large bubble appearing around her head even as her head laid upon her front paws. Snape then walked behind his desk, picking up a slip of parchment before he started taking roll call. Once he got to Harry's name, however, he paused and looked up from the parchment towards Harry, his eyes narrowing slightly. "It seems we have a new... Celebrity.. in my classroom. Tell me Potter, what would I get if I added powdered root of asphodel to an infusion of wormwood?

Most, if not all, of the claws in the room raised a hand, though Harry looked a little peeved at having been called out. "You would get the Draught of the Living Dead, Sir." He answered, staring coldly into Snape's suprise-widened eyes. The professor schooled his features fast enough to make everyone believe they had imagined it, though.

"Ooh. So you decided to open a book before entering my classroom it seems. Where than, pray tell, would I find a bezoar." Snape fired back, raising an eyebrow at the boy.

Once again, the hands of the claws all around the room shot into the air, but Harry persisted. "You would find it in the stomach of a goat, and it is a cure to all but the strongest of poisons... Sir." He replied with a slight smirk gracing his face, his hands clenching under the table in anger.

"Well, I suppose you might be able to get lucky twice, shall we try a third? What is the difference between monkshood and wolfsbane?" Snape asked, gesturing lazily with his hand towards Harry's table, a gleam in his eyes.

Harry leaned his head back slightly, thinking about where he had read about those plants, before realizing they had been on the same page. With a smile gracing his features once more, he answered again. "They just so happen to have no differences, they are the same plant going by different names, though that particular plant also goes by the name of aconite as well." He finished, raising a dainty eyebrow at the professor.

Nobody in the class spoke, once Harry finished answering the question as Snape visibly tensed. Snape then gave a small chuckle before shrugging and looking around the classroom. "Why aren't you all writing that down?! These are pieces of information that could make or break your grades and schooling." Snape snapped at the class, a quick scratching of several quills sounding throughout the classroom as everyone, including Harry, wrote down the questions asked along with their appropriate answers. "Now, your assignment is on the board, get to work." He finished, giving a lazy flick of his wand, making writing appear across the board.

The quartet of friends quietly gave Harry congrats in answering all of the questions correctly, though they were all curious as to why he was being targeted. They just put it up as something to learn at another time, and began working on the day's assigned potion. Once the end of the class came, they all had roughly the same coloring to their boil cure potions, though Hermione's looked ever so slightly more of the color needed. After turning in their work, the quintet left the classroom, with Snape canceling out the bubble-head charm on Lily. It was a happy group that headed towards their common room to have a nice evening of studying and conversation before they headed down for dinner.

Once they arrived in the Ravenclaw common room, they noticed a large group crowding around a noticeboard on the side wall. Upon inspection of the papers on the board, Harry and Caleb relayed to the others that the schedule for their first flying lessons were to take place on the next day, which happened to be saturday. The other paper was a notice from their head of house, Professor Flitwick, that he would be interviewing each first year, fifth year, and seventh year student individually in order to ask questions about what each student wanted to be when they graduated, and how the school was treating them and such.

The girls all smiled at the idea of having their meetings with the head of house, and started discussing what they all might wish to be when they graduated. Mindy went into a tirade of how she wished to be a Historian, or perhaps even the teacher here at Hogwarts for History of Magic. Everyone laughed lightly and agreed that it would be a nice change from Binn's 'History of Goblin Rebellions'.

Hermione said she hadn't really decided yet, but she was liking Transfiguration and Charms enough that she wouldn't mind trying to gain masteries in the two subjects. She also went on about how it was always her dream, since she had been younger, to become a professor of any given subject. Everyone gave a small smile at her revelation, making her face flush a light shade of pink at having rambled out her childish dreams, but was reassured that it was a good dream by the group.

Luna described about several of the creatures that her father and herself had been on several expeditions on to find, and how she had grown up loving magical creatures. She found that she wasn't embarrassed to say that she would love to settle down after exploring the world to find new creatures, or study already known creatures, by becoming a Care of Magical Creatures professor.

Harry went on to explain that the only thing he really knew about magic were what he had learned through their current week of schooling, and what Luna had spoken to them about. He then explained that he would probably have to think about a more permanent life-chosen career, but wouldn't mind perhaps becoming a teacher, or maybe just explore the world and see what magic has to offer. Everyone nodded to his explanation, considering they _were_ only in their first year, so had several years to decide on it.

They all looked at Caleb, who had yet to overly put anything into the conversation besides the odd comment or compliment on someone's ideas. Caleb just shrugged and explained his love for animals and creatures, size truly didn't matter to him. His face brightened as he explained having gone to several zoos while he lived in the states, and all of the dogs and cats his family had owned over the years. Caleb left off with a small comment that becoming a professor wouldn't be a bad idea, and perhaps just becoming something of a zoologist wouldn't be too far out of his picturesque dreams either.

The quintet all shared smiles and laughs as they furthered the discussion, before they decided to get a start on their potions homework, which was an essay on the uses of the boil cure potion, and how it might be the wrong cure in certain situations. The essay itself was required to be a only a foot in length, though Hermione and Luna's turned out to be around a foot and a half in length instead, making the other three in the group smile at their friends' eagerness in learning.

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Saturday turned out to be a beautiful day, being bright and sunny with very little cloud cover. This brightly wonderful day saw the Ravenclaw first years walking along the lush field towards the courtyard designated in the notice. It turns out that they at least wouldn't be having to have the class with the Slytherins, which was a heavy relief to both Harry and Caleb, with neither of them having flown before. Both of the boys were talking excitedly about what they were hoping for the class to be like, while the girls were walking behind them and talking in a not-so-excited way. The girls preffered the 'keeping my feet planted firmly on the ground' way of handling things. The boys joked that if this class hadn't been mandatory, the girls might have just skipped it altogether.

Reaching the courtyard they needed, they noticed a crowd of red robed students already waiting with the professor. There were also two long rows of very ancient looking brooms laying in the grass. Once the group of claws gathered near the professor, she turned her bright yellow, hawk-like, eyes towards them and began speaking.

"Welcome, first years, to your very first flying lesson. Everyone line up next to a broom, Claws on that side, Gryffs on this one." She stated, gesturing towards the brooms before walking to stand on by the end of the rows. "Everyone have one? Good. Now the first item on the list for today, you place your hand in the air above the broom, and say 'Up!'. The broom should then fly up into your hand. This requires confidence and a feeling of control." She explained, pacing between the two rows of brooms and students, looking at each student as she walked.

Shrugging, Harry tried, giving a confident 'Up!' and was surprised that the broom flew straight into his hand. Seeing Harry do it so easily, the other students all started trying to varying degrees of success and failure. Mindy's seemed to hop about a foot in the air towards her hand, but also seemed to sense her lingering feelings of not wanting to fly, so decided against jumping into her hand. Luna's went all the way to her hand, but did so in a slow and wobbly fashion, looking as if someone had used a wand to levitate it instead. Hermione's just decided to roll over on the ground, almost as if pouting at having a student that didn't wish to fly on it. Caleb's jumped into his hand hard enough to sting slightly, apparently sensing his excitement to try flying. Harry and Caleb exchanged a light high-five before turning to watch the other students around them, sharing a small laugh at the girls' brooms' antics.

Caleb was rubbing his arm after Hermione and Mindy had swatted him for laughing at their misfortune, but decided to look around towards the Gryffs. He noticed Neville directly in front of him, whose broom was like Hermione's and was just rolling around for the most part. Deciding to help out a little bit, he called out to him. "Hey Neville, need help?" Making the boy look up in slight worry, giving away his intentions of not wanting to fly. Caleb just smiled lightly and tapped the bottom of his chin and straightened his back. "Confidence Neville, that's all you need is a little confidence, yeah? Just imagine you're needing the broom to fly to the greenhouses to see some new plants that arrived." Caleb said, gesturing to the broom a little with his hand.

Neville straightened his standing posture and held his hand up, giving a confident 'Up!', and the broom swung up and into his hand, making him smile in disbelief. "Wow, it worked!" The surprised boy exclaimed, looking to Caleb who just gave him a wink and a smirk.

"See? All you need is a little more confidence and you can do anything you set your mind to! Your a Gryffindor, for Merlin's sake, yeah? Thats the house of confidence and bravery, the hat chose to put you in that house. The hat seems to not be wrong with its choices, ya' know what I'm sayin'?" Caleb stated, walking forward and giving Neville a light slap to his shoulder and a smile, making the shy boy smile and nod at Caleb. "Good. Now, as a pureblood, you need to show us muggleborn how to fly correctly, don't ya'? Madam Hooch can't help all of us students at once, so we could use a little advice from someone else with experience." Caleb quietly told Neville, making the boy's posture straighten further, giving Caleb a strong nod of his head before he walked back over to his spot within the Ravenclaw's line.

"That will be fifteen points to Ravenclaw for helping out another student, Mr. Beck." Madam Hooch stated, giving Caleb a nod. Caleb just nodded back and waited for further instruction. "Now that we all have our brooms, carefully place the broom between your legs, and when I blow my whistle, I want you to lightly kick off from the ground and hover a few feet above the ground. As she placed the whistle into her mouth, something quite odd occured. When Neville placed the broom between his legs, the broom decided to just start floating away... With Neville going along for the journey!

"Come back here this instant! I haven't blown the whistle yet and you are going far beyond a few feet, young man!" Madam Hooch yelled, pointing at Neville who continued to float higher and higher.

"I'm not doing anything! It won't follow my control or anything professor!" Neville yelled back, paling at the thought of just floating away from Hogwarts and into the distant skies.

Thinking quickly, Harry kicked off with his broom, and flew up to grab part of the handle of Neville's. Neville's broom seemed to ignore the extra weight and continued floating ever higher. Caleb and a few of the Ravenclaw boys decided to fly in to help, all of them forming a sort of chain by grabbing onto the last persons' broom and all of them started trying to pull downward. It took the eighth student to finally halt Neville's ascent. Feeling relieved, he started to calm down slightly. That calmness, however, decided to diappear faster than an ordered house elf when everyone heard the sound of cracking coming from his broom.

Harry, thinking quickly again, changed his grip to both of his hands being on Neville's broom, making him have to hold onto his own with his legs tightly wrapped around it. Harry placed one hand at the base, right next to the tail, and the other right in front of Neville. This worked to stop the cracking sound, but made Neville start to lean slightly backwards. This caused the entire chain of flying students to start drifting toward a tower of the school. After a few quick seconds, the tip of Neville's broom handle smacked into the brick of the tower, making his broom snap in half. The force of it snapping made the chain of students below his to start plummeting quickly, but they all were able to make somewhat unsteady landings on the ground, while Neville was thrown from the broom, falling quickly.

With everyone's gasp, Neville was caught by the hem of his robes on a decorative spike that was jutting out from the tower. Everyone gave a sigh of relief, until they heard the sound of ripping. The next thing they knew, Neville was laying on the ground, cradling his right arm, with Madam Hooch running over to examine him. "Alright, its just a broken wrist, lets get you up to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey will have you fixed up in a jiffy." She said, helping the boy to his feet slowly. "Now, I will be escorting him to the hospital wing, if any of you decide to leave the ground on a broom, you will be expelled faster than you could say the phrase "Quidditch is the greatest wizarding sport ever!" She stated, giving a slight glare at the gathered students and earning quick nods in return.

Once she and Neville had made it into the school, a group of the Gryffindors started laughing uproariously. "Did you see his face? He looked like a scared little girl whose dolls were being taken away!" The redhead in the middle exclaimed, the boys around him laughing even louder. "Oh? Look what he dropped! It's a remembrall, maybe he would have fared better had he remembered to just stay home, the little squib that he is doesn't really deserve to sully the halls of this glorious school for people like us!" He stated, his face morphing into one of disgust.

Caleb and Harry were trembling with fury. How could someone from his own house speak of him like that? Though what happened next surprised everyone. The students around Caleb and Harry started feeling like there was a small tornado starting in the area. Upon further inspection, Caleb's light brown, shoulder length hair started to darken into a deep black. His bright blue eyes started turning into a blazingly bright shade of electric blue. Harry seemed to calm quickly at the sight of Caleb's apparent change in appearance, making some of the wind die down, but not by overly much.

The redhead and the group of people that were laughing could only look on in abject horror as Caleb started walking towards them in a slow, but steady march. The redhead started backing up frantically, backing into the wall of the tower as Caleb kept slowly advancing on him. Once directly in front of him he held his hand out and spoke, further surprising the group of students. " **Give it to me, now.** " He stated in a deep, gravelly voice.

"Or what? You'll do something to me? My father works in the ministry! If you think you can do something to me without something happening to you, you'll be sorely mistaken!" The boy stated in a slightly more confident manner, standing straighter and hugging the remembrall to his chest. "If you think you're taking this from me, you're in for a sur-" His tirade was cut off when his air supply was cut off, his throat being constricted as he was lifted into the air. The boy started kicking frantically, trying to get air back into his system as he was lifted, singlehandedly, by the furious Mr. Beck.

" **Oh? Is your daddy able to get here in the few seconds that it would take to pummel you into a pulp? I think not. Now, give. It. To. Me. I will only tell you this one last time.** " Caleb said, smiling in a somewhat sadistic way, looking the boy straight in his eyes. He held his hand out, and felt the weighty orb fall into it. Bodily tossing the boy a few feet away from himself, with him sliding a few feet further, Caleb smirked before turning towards the rest of the Gryffindors. " **You call yourselves Gryffindors? The house of Courage, Confidence, and Loyalty? All I see here are a large goup of bullies. What gives you the right to treat someone as kind hearted as Neville Longbottom the way you do? I will not stand by while people like you treat innocent students like the garbage that you truly are. This is your only warning, there will be no mercy, there will be no excuses, and there will be no forgiveness.** " He said while walking towards the terrified Gryffindors, with each of them nodding fervently, afraid he would unleash his apparent wrath upon them.

" **Good. NOW GET OUTTA MY SIGHT, YOU MAGGOTS!** " He yelled, his magically enhanced voice creating a blast of wind toward the students. This sent red clad students scrambling to get back to the castle, with a few of them tripping and falling over a couple of the brooms before getting back to their feet to continue running. " **Shit.. Not again! Where is.. Where is Lily!?** " Caleb unexpectedly yelled, holding both sides of his head as he fell to his knees, thrashing his head back and forth before a small barking was heard from the direction that the Gryffindors had run. She quickly trotted up to his side, standing on her hind legs and began licking his face before she was hugged into his chest as he began breathing heavily, the wind that was swirling around him so fiercly started dying down once she was in his grasp.

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Well then! That actually wasn't how I was originally planning to run the flying class, but it turned out pretty good in my opinion! That is just my opinion, I suppose, and technically its YOUR, the reader's, opinions that really matter.

Hope you enjoyed the third installment of this fic! I'll be seeing you next time, then!


	4. Protections and Plots

Hello once again audience! I'm back again with the fourth installment of Conpiracy of Ravens! I really enjoyed writing the end of the last chapter, as it turned out better that way than I had originally planned. My wife, who is also my beta, actually liked it quite a bit. She's more into Supernatural and Walking Dead fics, but she decided to tough it out for my sake..

Disclaimer is in the first chapter, but pretty much just says I own nothing but my (hopefully) original ideas and this work of fanfiction itself.

I would like to thank the guest who wrote their 'name' as Millie for writing some reviews that helped out with some ideas I was running through, and I decided to put them into the story itself. Also, it was she who asked about Duble's manipulations. I would also like to thank ObsessedWithHPFanFic, about why the sorting hat had had his 'malfunction' during the sorting. These reviews also helped to remind me to put a Dumbledore scene into this chapter like I had been planning to. I was actually already finished with chapter 5, but it won't hurt anything to lengthen this, admittedly, short chapter. Enjoy!

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Madam Hooch and Professor McGonagall could be seen walking into the courtyard to find the Ravenclaws huddled into a large group, whispering frantically to eachother, with Caleb still holding Lily in his lap and breathing somewhat heavily. Harry, Hermione, Luna and Mindy all seemed to be stuck between wanting to make sure Caleb was okay, and wanting to run for their lives at what they had just seen. McGonagall and Hooch were slightly surprised in the fact that Caleb now had jet black hair and glowing electric-blue eyes.

"Mr. Beck, I must ask that you follow me to the Headmaster's office. I have heard some incriminating stories about you involving my lions, and I would like to hear your side of the story, if you will." She called to Caleb, gesturing a hand towards the castle. Caleb just gave a slight nod and stood, still holding Lily to his chest as he walked with her.

"I would also like to request the presence of Professor Flitwick, as stated in the school's charter, 'Any meeting between a student and the headmaster must be held with their head of house there as their 'magical gaurdian'.' " Caleb asked, looking up at the stern woman and recieving a nod in return. She then sent off a spell that was a bright blob of light, that wound up forming into the shape of a cat before running off ahead of them, making a left turn once inside the doorway whereas they were going to the right.

"He should be meeting us there. I'm glad you read up on the school charter, many students tend to just hope for the best, while I think it is better to have a nuetral adult helping them." She stated, bringing them to a stop in front of a stone gargoyle that looked to be holding some sort of orb. "We'll wait here until Filius arrives." She said, watching the end of the corridor expectantly.

After only a few moments of waiting, they heard the sound of the tiny professor's quick footfalls along the ston floor. He came jogging around the corner, before making his way over fto them. "I came as fast as I could, I was busy grading papers when I got you message. Is the boy hurt? Did he hurt somebody else?" The half-goblin professor fired off questions, still out of breath from his unexpected run.

"I don't quite know myself Filius, but Mr. Beck here has requested you to accompany him for his meeting with the headmaster, as is stated in the school's charter." She replied, smiling slightly at her friend's exuberance. "Shall we?" She asked, gesturing towards the gargoyle. After receiving nods from them both, she looked towards the statue and with a muttered "Cockroach clusters", the gargoyle hopped off to the side. The trio of people walked through the revealed doorway and stepped onto a revolving stairway that was rising upwards, like an escalator.

Once at the top, they approached a large mahogany set of double doors that opened by themselves after they heard a muffled "Enter." from the other side. The opened doors revealed a somewhat strange yet magical looking office, with small golden and silver trinkets and machines that all twirled, dinged, and gave off puffs of smoke at different intervals. Upon the walls behind his slightly raised desk were moving portraits of what Caleb assumed to be previous headmasters. There were shelves upon shelves of books lining the walls around the room as well. Perhaps the most enchanting item within the office though, just so happened to be a large red and gold pheonix sitting upon a large golden perch just to the side of the headmaster's desk.

Caleb quickly, yet calmly, walked up to the pheonix and gave the bird a light bow. "Hello there handsome! May I be graced with the honor of petting a creature of such marvel and beauty?" Caleb said, looking upon the bird in awe.

McGonagall and Flitwick shared a quick chuckle as the bird puffed up in pride before giving the boy a bow in return before nodding. Caleb reached out and ran his hand lightly along his plumage, starting from the top of his head and to the bottom of his chest, before repeating the process a couple of times.

After letting the boy calm down a little bit by way of petting the, now prideful, pheonix, the headmaster cleared his throat to get his attention. Caleb seemed to snap out of a trance and flush slightly in embarassment. "Well, as entertaining as this is, I would thank you for guiding the boy here Filius, you may take your leave now." Dumbledore said, looking toward the shorter one of his colleagues in a dismissing manner. "I believe I requested just Mr. Becks presence, not the three of you, though I thought that Minerva's continued presence would help her understanding of the matter." He finished, frowning slightly at the smirk that appeared upon Filius's face.

"Actually, headmaster, I personally requested for him to accompany Professor McGonagall and myself here for this meeting. I believe I saw in the school's charter that my head of house was to be my acting guardian should I have to meet with the headmaster, that being you, at any given point if my parents happened to be non-magical, which they are." Caleb replied in a slightly cold manner, still not happy with today's happenings. Before Dumbledore could think of a reply, Caleb walked towards one of the three seats. "After you ma'am." He said, gesturing towards one of the seats, surprising the professors briefly. Dumbledore seemed to gain a frown and glare at the boy for the smalled of moments, before he schooled his facial expression.

"Why thank you, Mr. Beck." She said, sitting and crossing her legs lightly, watching as the student and Filius sat after she situated comfortably in her seat. "Now, I believe that we would all like an explanation as to what happened during your flying lesson that all of my first year lions to become terrified of you, with some of them actually relieving themselves in the process of running back to the tower." She stated, looking towards Caleb in a questioning manner.

Caleb just gave a sigh and explained everything that happened during the class, from the start of the class and all the way to the teachers arriving. Lily was laying in Caleb's lap, helping to keep him calm during the entire explanation. "And, then we wound up here." Caleb finished his explanation, looking at the pheonix for a few seconds, swearing that he had seen a look of sympathy in his eyes before the bird turned to take a drink from a bowl next to his perch.

The room was silent for a few moments, mulling over what had happened. McGonagall was feeling a wide array of feelings. She was feeling angy at her own lions bullying someone of their own house. She was feeling proud of the way that Caleb, a Ravenclaw, had stood up for someone he barely knew, who also happened to be from another house! She was especially feeling saddened by the fact that something had scarred such a young boy that he would have such a magical reaction to something so trivial as school yard bullying.

"That doesn't eplain your change in appearance though, and the fact that once your magic died down, you didn't change back to your normal appearance. Care to explain this to us?" Dumbledore asked, his eyes flicking between his jet black hair and glowing blue eyes.

Caleb just sighed and gave a solemn nod. "The only thing that I can tell you is from what I've experienced so far. This is the third or fourth time I have lost control like this, I don't remember why on the other times though. My appearance seemed to stay changed like this for about a week before changing back. I will also have to warn you that I might be slightly colder to everyone around me, as well as having a shorter fuse on my temper while in this state." He told them, looking at the floor. "I have had some training in meditation in calming my nerves, but it doesn't shorten the length that I am like this."

Once they all waited a moment to absorb that information before Dumbledore spoke. "I believe that we should view the memory, just to corroborate the differing stories. Now, this is what I need you to do." The headmaster said in a firm tone, walking to a cabinet that Caleb hadn't noticed from the doorway, before coming back with a large bowl that was covered with what looked like runes, or what he assumed were runes since they looked like the runes from his video games, and filled with a grayish gassy looking liquid. Once McGonagall had extracted the memory from his, giving him an encouraging smile as she did so, she placed it into the bowl and the three professors dipped their faces into it, disappearing from his view.

After a few minutes of Caleb just sitting there conversing in a one-sided manner to both Lily and the pheonix, that he learned was named Fawkes from a plaque on his perch, the teachers reappeared with frowns marring their faces. "Well, I suppose that Mr. Beck has told us the entirety of nothing but the truth. I would like to award Ravenclaw twenty points for your bravery and for sticking up for someone who needed it. I would also like to award ten points for each person from Ravenclaw who risked their own safety to try to help Neville during his abrupt flight." Professor Flitwick stated as soon as he regained his bearings. Both McGonagall and Flitwick smiled at the boy when he gained a slightly gobsmacked expression at the amount of points that Ravenclaw had just gained. "Though I will have to take off ten points for the fact that you resorted to violence to solve the matter, instead of finding a professor to handle it." Flitwick finished, with Caleb giving a nod in understanding before standing.

"Does that mean I am excused, headmaster?" Caleb asked in a calm manner, feeling exhausted from today's happenings. Once he recieved his nod, Flitwick walked out of the doorway with him to escort him back to the common room. On the way there, Caleb had placed Lily on the floor so she could walk herself, as she enjoyed running around more than being carried.

"I am proud to claim you as one of my Ravens, Mr. Beck. It takes great courage and loyalty to stand up to greater numbers when by yourself. You also showed great magical power today, more than someone of your young age should posess, that also includes Mr. Potter as well." Flitwick said to the boy, making him slightly happier about his choices, albeit some of them were out of his control. "I was wondering if you and your friends might want some extra tutoring, to perhaps help you to learn to control your excess amounts of power. I was, personally, a world champion duelist for six years running." He continued, making Caleb look at him in awe at being the student of someone so skilled, and at the fact that he was offering his friends and himself extra tutoring. The thought of his friends made him sad though, thinking that they wouldn't wish to be friends with someone so frightening.

"Do you think I even have any friends at this point, Professor?" Caleb asked in a quietly subdued voice, looking at the floor as they walked down another corridor. "Would they even want to be friends with someone who freaks out at the drop of a hat? Someone that goes somewhat dark because of the smallest thing happening? Someone who has seen death the way that I have?" Caleb ranted on, getting more and more scared of losing his friends the more questions he asked.

Filius had frozen in his spot in the hallway at Caleb's accidental reveal, surprised at the boy's apparent past. He shook his head and lightly grabbed the boy by his elbow, directing him into his office. Once inside, he instructed him to sit down in one of the chairs in front of his desk. Caleb could hear the professor rumaging through a cabinet before he handed him a small bottle that had a light blue liquid in it. Upon recieving a questioning glance, Flitwick smiled and explained that it was a calming draught. Caleb shrugged and drank it quickly, easily disliking the taste, before handing the empty bottle to the professor.

"So.. You mentioned having training in meditation. I think you could use a little extra help with keeping your nerves in check. I just need to find the appropriate book for you, if you'll give me a moment." Flitwick said, shuffling off towards a set of bookshelves against the wall. Caleb only had to wait a couple of minutes before The professor returned with a weighty tome in his grasp. "I would like you to try reading this book and maybe work on putting it into practice. It helps to teach you something called Occlumency. There are two types of magic involving one's mind. There is the so-called 'mind reading' type of magic called Legilimency. The other side of that coin is Occlumency, which is the art of organising one's mind, while also building defenses, or shields, around your mind to keep out Legilimency users." Flitwick explained, placing the book in the seat next to where Caleb was sat at.

"This book will teach you each step in helping you to learn Occlumency. I believe that this might be able to help you in controlling yourself from losing control like you did today, perhaps maybe even help you be able to use it as more of an ability, instead of it just happening." He continued explaining. He gave Caleb a rueful smile as he gestured to the book. "Consider it my reward to you for your show of bravery when trying to help a friend in need, both during his flight and with his bullies."

"I don't know how to thank you professor.. It seems like an extremely old book. Which means it would be extremely expensive as well!" Caleb stated, looking at the cover of the book, opening the cover to look at the inside to hopefully see how old the book might be.

"I don't need to be thanked, as I said, this is a reward. I am giving you this book. I also happen to have multiple copies of the book itself, so its of no major consequence for me to give you a copy. I myself see it as a just reward for services rendered when others did nothing." Flitwick replied, a smile on his small face, making Caleb smile in return. "Now, I believe that you might need to go take a nap. You expended a decent amount of magic today. Professor's orders." He finished, gesturing to the door.

With one last 'thank you' the the professor, Caleb picked up the think tome and walked out of the office, Lily running out before he closed the door. Caleb slowly made his was towards the common room, not looking forward to the fallout from his friends. He just decided to get it over with, quickly answering the door's riddle and walking through the common room and towards his dorm room. He noticed the room go silent at his entry, but didn't stop long enough for anyone to converse with him or to hear anything said. He quickly climbed into his bed, letting Lily jump up before pulling the curtains closed and slamming his face into his pillow, falling asleep almost instantly.

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Caleb woke up the next day to Lily licking his face exuberantly. He just sat up and rubbed his face with his palms, hoping to rub the sleep out of his eyes. Hopping out of bed, he decided to grab a shower as quickly as he could. Once out of the shower about ten minutes later, he noticed the dorm was already empty. Caleb just huffed quietly before dressing, walking out of the dorm quickly, Lily trailing not far behind.

Caleb walked out of the common room before anyone even noticed he had walked downstairs, or so he thought. He walked through the castle, just exploring needlessly, letting his mind wander as he did so. He wound up finding several secret passages. Some were hidden behind small alcoves that made you think they were windows, some were covered by fake walls that seemed to shimmer if you looked at them closely enough. It was through one of the fake walls that he found something that seemed to be a dueling room. With a smile, he took off his robes, leaving himself in just his sweat pants and a thin shirt.

Once he was situated in the middle of the room, he stood straight and took a deep breath. He began to do various stretches that he knew, standing and touching his toes, squats, lunges, hurdle stretches, and etc. Once done stretching, he stood once again in the center of the floor and started taking a deep breath. He raised his fists up to high chest level, stepping his left foot out to shoulder width, his toes pointed downward. As he breathed out, he lowered his fists to waist level and stepped flat onto his foot, settling into the ready position for one of the forms he had learned. He then started executing blocks, punches, kicks, grabs, and stepping every which way. He started working up a bit of sweat as he repeated the form for the seventh time, having been speeding up and throwing harder strikes after each repitition. Each strike he threw, he let out a puff of air, tightening his stomach muscles. After having finished the seventh repitition, he walked over to the wall farthest from the door.

Facing the wall, he spread his feet a decent distance apart, his elbows bent and fists next to his ribs, almost as if to scratch the areas under his armpits. Going from this stance, also known as Horse Stance - Full Chamber, he started slowly, and powerfully punching the wall. Every twenty punches, he switched to palm thrusts, hitting the brick wall of the classroom with the heel of his palm. He repeated this process with all of the blunt type hand strikes he knew, palm strike, straight fist, fore fist, uppercut, and back fists. He worked at this for what felt like maybe ten or fifteen minutes, he didn't really know, all he knew was his hands were quite sore with having been striking the stone brick wall.

With a weary smile on his face, Caleb decided to go through his cardio exercises to finish off his workout, sweat dripping from his face and soaking through his shirt enough that it stuck to his torso. He walked a few laps around to dueling room to cool himself off, as there seemed to be no windows in the room. Looking over at Lily, who was waking from her nap from among his piled up robes in the corner next to the door, he smiled and leaned down to pet her a little bit. "Lets get outta here girl." He said affectionately, opening the door as he was wiping the sweat from his face using his robes. He had missed working up a good sweat. It seemed to him that not many wizards excercised, like... ever!

Caleb looked around the corridor they were currently in, not knowing where they were so he looked down at his faithful companion. "Know the way back to the dorms, girl? I kinda wasn't paying attention on the way here..." He said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head as she just gave a small huff. She started leading him down the corridor on his right, heading towards a set of stairs. As they were leaving the corridor, he looked up and noticed a strange painting of a wizard trying to teach some trolls how to do ballet. Leaving the strange painting behind, he followed his trotting friend.

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Meanwhile, when Caleb had left the dorm, the current quartet was sitting in their usual spot in the common room talking about their fifth friend. In better detail, they were talking about Caleb's transformation during his anger. They were also wondering on where he had wandered off to, having sent Harry up to the dorm to see if he was there but found Caleb's bed empty. This left the group in somewhat of a conundrum. They wanted to find Caleb, but didn't want to get lost while trying to do so. They just decided to study and finish their homework while they waited for him to return.

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Nobody in the castle had seen hide nor hair of the subject of everyone's conversations. It was actually starting to make professors Flitwick and McGonagall worry somewhat. Their worries seemed to be unfounded when he walked into the Great Hall towards the end of dinner, drenched in sweat and carrying his school robes under his arm. Flitwick gave a wry smile and continued eating his meal as he watched the boy sit down at the empty end of the table before he started piling food onto his plate.

Caleb himself wasn't paying any attention to what the other students were saying around him, as he was too hungry to really care all too much. He just sat down and placed a few burgers onto his plate, followed by mashed potatoes that were topped with corn and green beans, before they were smothered in a large dollop of gravy. He then began digging into his meal with a fervor, having not eaten anything since the previous day's lunch.

Once finished, he quickly stood and walked back out of the hall, still ignoring everyone's not so quiet whispers about his appearance. None of the tables were quite as loud as the Gryffindor table seemed to be, having been the target of his magically enhanced rage. One of the boys sitting at the table of lions stood up and followed Caleb as fast as his legs could carry him without running at a full sprint

The boy finally caught up to him after having climbed several flights of stairs, almost getting lost, and having knocked over three sets of armor, which frightened the nearby paintings' inhabitants. "Caleb! Please wait up!" He called out, making Caleb halt at the end of the corridor and turn around to face him.

"How can I be of assistance Neville?" Caleb asked in a firm tone, not wanting to see a look of terror in the eyes of someone who he had lost control in helping. It definitely wouldn't make him feel any better about the situation.

Neville shyly looked at the floor for a moment before straightening his back and looking Caleb in his glowing eyes. "I, Neville Longbottom, heir to the Ancient and Noble House of Longbottom wish to officially bring you under house protection." He stated in a firm tone, making Caleb stumble slightly in surprise before looking back at Neville.

"What does that uh... What does that mean, in easier to understand terms Neville." Caleb asked, scratching the back of his head nervously, making Neville smile a little bit.

"It means that any attacks on your person or your reputation itself will be seen as an attack on the House of Longbottom. Let's just say that, while my grandmother was the driving force behind this decision, it was my idea to start with. You and Harry both risked your own selves in trying to help my in my peril, while not asking for anything in return. Even after I was not present, you continued to protect me by standing up to those of my house who were saying things about me behind my back. I would personally like to thank you for your self sacrifice for someone you barely knew." Neville replied, bowing lowly at the waist to Caleb, surprising him further before making him smile.

Caleb returned with a bow just as low, before walking forward and taking Neville's hand to shake firmly. "Thank you Neville, for all of this. It seems I still might have at least one friend left in this school at least, with you around." Caleb said, smiling brightly before the continued walking around the castle with Caleb showing Neville the shortcuts he had found. They then made plans of making some form of map or something of the sort to help them out around the castle. Little did they know, they were being watched by a couple of individuals who were smirking mischievously as the rounded the end of the corridor, making plans for the boys in the future.

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Headmaster's office

Dumbledore sat in his comfortable high-backed chair, sucking on another lemon drop, contemplating what he should do with his somewhat scattered plans. He had had the perfect groundwork laid out for his little weapon, but some sort of wrench had been thrown into his machinations. Had it perhaps been him meeting his fellow students in Diagon Alley? Perhaps.. Or maybe it was just that he had miscalculated about the young boy's will power. He would have to clear some extra time at another point to figure out the why's. For the moment, he had to figure out how to 'bring the train back to the correct track', so to speak.

He wasn't exactly happy about the fact that Molly had failed to help Harry through to the Platform 93/4. Though he supposed some of the blame could be put on Hagrid for letting the other Muggleborn students asking Minerva ahead of time, and taking Harry off of Hagrid's hands. There were just so many things that could have gone wrong or right with his planning, and he had been having horrid luck as of late. He would have to give the boy his father's cloak. Maybe that would make him somewhat more pliable to his cause. It would help him to see that he had had connections to his father, making him think he was working for his betterment.

He gave the Sorting Hat a baleful glare, not exactly happy that it had place Harry into Ravenclaw, when he had placed on of the most powerful compulsion potions he had ever brewed into his fabric. He gave a smirk at his genius, having used his alchemy and potion skills to make the wonderful concoction. He would also have to find a way to get him away from the group of children he had befriended, somehow. He could probably use Halloween as an oppurtunity. Quirrel was still looking for ways to distract him from watching the third floor corridor, perhaps a few well placed compulsions would be in his schedule. He grew a slight smirk at his continued genius. He also put it to the fact that he always had the best ideas when he was enjoying his favorite sweet! They were just so delectable, he really must think of a way to get the other professors to love them the way he did. He gave a shake of his head, he had almost lost track of his original thoughts.

It also seemed that the American boy, Caleb, had more secrets than he had let on. He would have to be watched closely as well for the time being. He had gotten quite the headache from the floo-call that Molly had given him at the boy hurting her precious baby boy. He didn't really care for the brash woman, but she was one of his biggest boons as a supporter, being such a skilled potioneer. He would have to try and engineer a way for the Weasley boy to try to become friends with Harry, but he doubted that would be a viable option.

Dumbledore removed his glasses and rubbed his temples with his fingertips. He was getting much too old for this type of thing, but alas.. It had to be him. He was the only one wise enough to lead the wizarding world towards its true end. The Greater Good called for him to be the leader in these times of coming strife! He replaced his glasses and stood from his desk, walking passed a cresfallen Fawkes, and into his sleeping chambers.

Once the door of the sleeping chambers snapped shut, Barnabus, the Sorting Hat, looked at Fawkes and gave a sigh. "It seems he has been making plans again, and as we both know, anyone he has plans for tends to come to a tragic end. Wouldn't you agree?"

Fawkes just gave a sad trill, rustling his plumages a little before tucking his head under his wing to fall into an unpleasant slumber for the night. He was saddened by his Master's inherent ways, but couldn't do anything about it. He needed someone else to bond with in order to break the bond with his current master. He had found a wonderful candidate, but it seemed like it would be a difficult road to attempt, both for the bond he shared with his own companion, and for Fawkes himself to be able to approach the boy.

Barnabas just gave a shake of his tip, saddened by how low the headmaster had fallen in his eyes. He decided that he wouldn't be able to do anything until he could get away from his current perch, which was difficult with the charms and enchantments that Dumbledore had placed on him.

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Alright, I seem to have mostly focused the chapter on Caleb this time around. I blame my hands for not wanting to stop typing. In all seriousness though, I typed this up only three or four days after posting the first chapter... But that's besides the point. Hope you enjoyed the chapter! Review/Fave/Follow at your usual leisure. Have a great day!


	5. Exploring Pups and Parties

Hello once again audience! I'm back again with the fifth installment of Conspiracy of Ravens! In this chapter, I'm hoping to try and get out of the angsty and somewhat depressive feeling that the last chapter dropped us into. Enjoy the chapter!

Disclaimer is in the first chapter!

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Caleb and Neville could currently be found talking animatedly as they walked through the halls of the large castle, just exploring to their hearts' content. They had been discussing, for about an hour now, ways of making a map of the school to help out the current and even future first years. Caleb gave the idea of maybe getting someone from one of the higher years to help them out, as they might know the castle a little better than they would. Neville gave a nod at that idea. He suggested that they maybe find someone who was actually able to draw, as both of them had discussed that neither of them had the skills needed to be an artist.

The boys had stepped onto a flight of stairs, following Lily's lead. Once all three of them were in the middle of the stairway, the stairs, in fine Hogwarts fashion, began moving away from their desired direction. With both boys giving a sigh, they just decided to explore the corridor that had appeared before them. While they were walking along, they noticed that the corridor itself seemed eerily abandoned for being inside of a school full of curious children. The hallway itself was darker, with the lack of torches along the walls. There were dustwebs in the corners of the doorways on both sides of the hall.

Right as Neville was about to suggest that they make their way back the way that they had come from, they both heard a small bark from Caleb's trusted companion. This made Caleb curious as the what Lily may have found. Caleb walked towards the area that they had heard her from, motioning for Neville to follow him. Once they turned around a corner, they saw Lily standing on her hind legs, scratching at the door at the end of the hallway. Giving Neville a shrug, Caleb walked forward and turned the handle of the door, finding it locked.

"Know any unlocking spells Neville?" Caleb asked with a smile, not being serious. Before Caleb could walk away from the door however, Neville had pulled out his wand and gave a muttered 'Alohamora'. The boys heard a clicking noise from the door, and Caleb gave the knob a turn again, finding the door unlocked.

"Huh.. Wasn't expecting a first year to know a neat spell like that.. I'll have to learn that one." Caleb mumbled to himself before opening the door and stepping through with Neville and Lily. Once they were a few steps inside, the door slammed shut behind them. Both boys ran over to the door, trying desperately to open it again, but the knob just wouldn't budge.

Caleb kicked the door in frustration before leaning against the archway leading to the door and giving a sigh. "Well that's just great! Let's hope there's another way outta here, eh Neville?" Caleb asked, rubbing his tired eyes with his palms, not noticing Neville staring fearfully over his shoulder. Caleb's shoulders sagged slightly at his rotten luck lately, turning slowly with his wand drawn, his eyes falling upon the gargantuan form of a huge three headed dog that was staring at them aggresively.

"Why is there a Cerberus in a school full of children?!" Neville asked frightfully, pointing at the huge beast as he backed up into the door to get as far away from the animal as he could. Both boys didn't notice Lily wasn't in view at the moment, being so distracted. Caleb stepped in front of Neville, smirking slightly and putting his wand away.

"Wands would most likely be useless against such a magical beast... Especially from two extremely undertrained first years.. With one being a muggleborn..." Caleb grumbled to himself, hoping for luck in that someone would come along and let them out before they overstayed their welcome in the beast's eyes.

Both of the boys started hearing a low growl from the Cerberus. Looking up at their middle head, they could see it baring its teeth in a menacing manner. Caleb could hear the sound of the doorknob being jiggled repeatedly behind him by Neville. Caleb was just trying to think of a way out of the current, crappy, situation that he found himself in. Caleb just decided to wing it and took a step forward, spreading his arms out in an inviting manner. Neville just gasped in surprise, but before he could do anything, the Cerberus lunged for his friend.

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Harry, Hermione, Luna, and Mindy were all sitting in the common room waiting for Caleb to come back so they could talk with him. Harry was tired of waiting, so decided to get up to look for him. The girls tried to explain to him about how it would be fruitless, with the castle being too big for one person to hope to find one other person in. Harry just shrugged and packed his books into his bag, getting ready to head over towards the door to exit the common room, when the door opened from the other side.

Caleb came walking in, limping slightly, soaked from head to toe. He looked to be smiling, but grimacing with every other step. Lastly, if one looked close enough, they would see that the liquid dripping off of him seemed to be more of an ooze, than an actual liquid. Caleb saw Harry standing in the middle of the room looking over him with a questioning look in his eyes. Actually, taking a quick second to glance around the room, he noticed everyone had ceased their conversations and were looking at him. He just shrugged and kept walking forward, patting Harry on the shoulder before heading upstairs to the dorm to take a nice, long, and hot shower.

Harry just stood there staring at the doorway to the dorms, wondering what had happened to his friend. He looked over to the girls, whose faces looked just as gobsmacked. Well, all except Luna's, she still had that somewhat dreamy look on her face, but her eyebrows were raised in surprise. He just shrugged and walked back over to his seat to wait for Caleb to come back downstairs and explain.

Neville walked in through the portrait of the fat lady, confused on whether he should be trembling in fear at the fact that they had survived a confrontation with a cerberus, or laughing at the obsurdity at the fashion that they left in. He was still smiling as he made his way upstairs to grab his bag, so he might get a start on his potion's essay. He wasn't really looking forward to it, but he decided to just get it out of the way instead of putting it off until the last minute. Which is more than he could say for a certain redheaded dunderhead that was sitting with a group at one of the tables, bragging loudly about how good he was, and how he was undefeated. He just shook his head and sat down in a quiet corner to begin his homework, thankful that nobody had noticed his entrance into the room.

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Harry and the group watched Caleb walk back into the common room, carrying his bag of books and start on his way over to the their table. Caleb sat down and just opened one of his books to begin reading without looking at the others. He would prefer not to see their looks of fear or disgust at how he had lost control of his magic. Luna herself had told them about how easily scared that the wizarding world was of people 'going dark' when something different happens around them that scares them. So Caleb just assumed, what with his features being so drastically changed and the way he had handled the situation, that his friends wouldn't really want to be friends with him anymore.

Caleb chanced a glance over the top of his book only to see all three girls were looking at him. Their eyes held no fear or disgust like he was expecting. They only held concern for his well-being. He couldn't help but crack a smile at the fact that he actually still had people to call friends. Upon glancing at Harry, the boy just gave him shrug and gestured to the girls.

"I'm guessing you all have questions to ask me?" Caleb said, looking at each girl in their eyes in turn.

The next thing he knew, he was being bombarded with questions from all three of them. He was taken aback at the sheer amount of questions being fired at him and he just burst out in laughter with Harry, laughing at the simple fact that even such an event couldn't change the girls' nature in any lasting way, apparently. He raised a palm, making the girls stop their tirade of questions and all three of them looked at eachother sheepishly, making the boys chuckle again lightly.

"Ok now.. Let me rephrase that. One question at a time, in turns. Yeah? And perhaps we should take this conversation somewhere a little more private than the house common room?" Caleb said, standing and gesturing towards the eavesdropping groups of students, who all quickly tried to act nonchalant after being pointed out by the boy. Harry gave a nod before standing up with Caleb, who smiled at him thankfully.

"Lets head to a place I found while exploring today yeah?" Caleb asked, pointing at the door of the common room's entrance, letting the girls lead as they walked out. Once out of the common room, and making sure they weren't being followed by any curious eavesdroppers and the like, he led the group to an empty classroom a few corridors away from Ravenclaw Tower.

After dusting off some chairs for themselves, they all seated themselves in some chairs around a small table, all looking at Caleb expectantly. He just smirked and gestured at Luna, who smiled and nodded at him.

"I believe we would all like to know what, and why, you were covered in when you came back into the common room a little bit ago." Luna asked. The others all gave light nods and were looking at Caleb for his answer. He smirked at them before giving his answer.

"I'll be showing all of you the answer to that in due time. I have to ask around a little bit about who was involved with it. Next question?" He replied mysteriously, pointing at Mindy.

Mindy raised an eyebrow questioningly at his answer but shook her head and spoke. "If you're magic has calmed down from the flying class, why haven't your hair and eyes changed back to their normal colors?" She asked, her eyes flicking from his eyes to his hair and back.

"I'll tell you what I told the professors. This was only the third time that I've lost control in that manner, but the circumstances have all been the same for the most part. The more out of control my magic gets, the more that changes about me. I will probably look like this for roughly a week, give or take a day or so. I will also be a bit tempermental, or more irritable until I change back as well." Caleb answered. He gestured at himself before continuing. "This, is kind of what I would consider my 'stage one' loss of control. This is the second time that I have dealt with this stage." He explained, his glowing eyes glancing from one person to the next. "The first time I lost control... I can only remember bits and pieces, and I'd rather not talk about that time." He finished quietly, looking at the table sadly.

They were all quiet for a few moments while Caleb was ready for the next question. After a few moments, Caleb gave a nod to Hermione.

"What did the professors and headmaster decide to do as form of punishment and such?" Hermione asked, making Caleb smile slightly in amusement. Leave it to Hermione to ask about school punishments and such.

"I don't really know. They didn't tell me what they would do to the first year lions for bullying Neville. All I know is that they gave Ravenclaw ten points PER person who tried to help Neville when he was floating away. They also gave me twenty points for defending him, even after he had left the area, but they removed ten points for resorting to violence." Caleb answered, making them all gain gobsmacked expressions at the number of points they had earned that day.

"Speaking of our red-clad herbology lover, he found me during my exploring of the castle and he did something that Luna would probably understand more than the rest of us." Caleb mentioned, piquing their interest. "He told me that he was, as the heir to his house, bringing me under house protection for 'services rendered' from me helping him." Caleb stated, looking at Luna as she gave a small gasp.

Luna went into an explanation of what that meant for both Caleb and Neville seperately. All of the others were thoroughly impressed with what Neville had down for Caleb and were congratulating him for it, while he just gave a shrug.

"I wasn't really doing it in order to be rewarded. Be it house points or gaining an ally in school or politically. I was just doing what I felt was right. I hate, Hate, HAte, HATe, HATE! bullies and people who think its ok to say things about people behind their back." Caleb replied, getting slightly louder each time he said 'hate'.

The quartet then continued questioning the american boy, with him explaining as best as he could. They then spent a little over an hour continuing the discussion he had had with Neville about making maps of the castle and its passages for first years and such. They were all just enjoying spending time with the whole group once again, just talking about anything and everything they could think of at the time.

The quintet returned to the common room a little while later in order to finish their homework and head up to bed for their classes, with tomorrow being monday.

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The next couple of weeks went by in a decent enough fashion. Caleb employed the meditation excercises from the book that Professor Flitwick had given him. It turns out that, with the help of his friends and the meditation, he had been able to keep his temper during the week-long wait until he changed back to his usual appearance. One morning during breakfast, Hedwig dropped by to visit Harry and deliver a message. It turned out that Hagrid had sent her to ask if he and his friends, perhaps, would like to go down for some tea and rock cakes.

Oddly enough, this is where the quintet could be found. The even decided to bring along Neville. Hargrid was ecstatic at having so many people over for tea, though they had to sit at the table he had outside be the fire pit because their numbers wouldn't fit in his tiny little shack.

Everyone was enjoying themselves. Talking, laughing, and watching as Fang chased Lily around the vast Hogwarts lawn. The girls were giggling to themselves from their own conversation, apparently talking about something girl related. The boys and half giant were talking about quidditch, as Neville and Hagrid were trying to explain the rules and what each player did for their teams and so on. Harry and Caleb were sceptical at the fact that there was such a fast paced sport on speeding brooms, let alone without adding somewhat intelligent balls of stone trying to knock the players off of their brooms.

They just chalked it up as something that needed to be experienced in person, rather than to have it explained. They then started talking about the dogs, and other creatures that Hagrid helps to care for himself in the forest. Caleb believed he had his answer, and decided to go on the offensive.

"So Hagrid, do you have any other dogs or dog-like animals under your wonderous care that we could meet? I do love animals, but dogs tend to hold the top spot in my heart." Caleb asked innocently, suppressing a smirk by taking a drink of tea from his pint sized mug.

"Hmm? Oh yeah! I've go' a beautiful beasty by the name o' Fluffy! Raised him from a pup I did!" Hagrid boomed happily. Apparently if the subject involved creatures with four or more legs, Hagrid was a happy man! A very large, and happy man, of course!

"Oh! I've met someone who was incredibly fluffy recently! It's not Lily, by the way. The friendly little guy was quite appreciative of the attention I showed him. Apparently he doesn't exactly enjoy being cooped up in his hiding place. Neville and myself have actually begun taking him bacon sandwiches on occasion!" Caleb explained, looking at Neville, who gave him a raised eyebrow and nodded.

"How'd you meet my Fluffy? You aren't supposed to be in that area of the castle!" Hagrid boomed fiercely.

"I never said he was in the castle Hagrid..." Caleb replied, smirking mischievously.

"Oh.. Bugger.. I suppose that you now know the Cerberus, Fluffy, is mine then?" Hagrid asked meekly, his shoulders sagging in defeat at being tricked somewhat.

"I suppose we do now, ol' buddy o' mine!" Caleb answered, patting Hagrid lightly on his shoulder. "You really should visit him occasionally, he seems to miss you. Neville and I enjoy our visits with him. And yes girls, before you ask I will be taking the rest of you with us to see him." Caleb stated, looking at the girls smugly. The girls gave a 'harrumph!' at being found out before they even got to ask anything, but smiled at being able to meet a cerberus.

The rest of their time at Hagrid's consisted of roasting marshmallows by his large fire pit, while drinking large mugs of tea and sharing stories from their time at school. All in all, it was a pretty great ending to a pretty great day.

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Harry, Neville, and Caleb could be seen walking through the castle early one morning. They were all three sweaty, battered, and bruised. Well... Harry and Neville were battered and bruised, not so much for Caleb though. Caleb had decided some time after his appearance had changed back to normal, if the other two boys had wished to join him in his daily workouts. Neville was a little apprehensive at first, not thinking it would help much when he had a wand at his disposal, but decided to give it a go anyhow. Harry, on the other hand, agreed with a gusto! He hated being scrawny like he was, being shorter then everyone in their group of friends besides Luna, who explained that most of the females from her family only grew to be around five foot eight at most.

During their workouts, Caleb walks them through a series of stretches so they don't hurt themselves, before helping them learn the stances. Once they learned the stances, he taught them the basic hand strikes, then the kicks. Neville seemed to catch on with the hand strikes better, while Harry did better with the kicking. Once they practiced their strikes, stances, and some sparring, they would do some cardio and basic workouts like pushups, crunches, and stuff similar to that.

The boys said their farewells, heading to their seperate towers in order to get a quick shower before heading down for breakfast. The girls seemed to know what they were doing, but decided that they would rather not become sticky messes every morning. Caleb understood and didn't bug them to join, but he explained both the pros and the cons of their workouts.

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 _Flashback to talking with the girls_

"The cons could be considered somewhat short-listed. You'll most likely be sore after working out, depending on what we did that day. You'll become sweaty from the workouts. You could actually get hurt from doing some of the stuff that we enjoy doing, mostly the sparring and conditioning and such. Lastly, you have to wake up earlier to get a start on the workouts, if you want to catch breakfast to earn back some of your energy, at least." Caleb said, gesturing towards the bruises that Harry and himself were sporting.

"The pros are a little bit better in contrast, though. You'll be able to burn off the fat and calories that the not-so-healthy food selection during the meals builds up in your system. You'll have a higher endurance involving many things in your daily life, like staying up to study, or carrying around large stacks of books from the shelves to the table you were sitting at. (Caleb looked at Hermione and Mindy as he said that, making the girls blush cutely.) You'll be able to strengthen your magical core and endurance, since we also spend some of our time practicing some spells using the provided training dummies.

"All in all," he explained "it helps with your physical health, along with your appearance. Just look at Neville, he already seems a bit more confident in his spell casting and overall outlook on life. Though, it seems like he still has trouble doing the spells we learn in our classes.. Might have to ask him about that the next time I see him after class.." Caleb finished off, scratching his chin before giving a shrug.

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The boys met up with the girls in the common room, both freshly showered. They then headed down to the great hall to get a start on their day, as they had to deal with potions that day. Caleb tended to leave Lily in the common room nowadays, since he was a little more comfortable with his surroundings and was getting used to the students and teachers enough to not need her constant presence. This left Lily with time to explore the castle to her heart's content and whatever else a pomeranian got up to in their free time.

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Meanwhile: With Lily

Lily had decided to take an extended sleep this morning, seeing as Caleb had gone out for his morning routine like usual. It seemed, to her, like he was doing better for himself nowadays, having friends to fall back on and having fun in his schooling.

Once she woke up from a bit of a nap, she decided upon running off for a bit of a day of exploration. She popped down to the common room, finding only a few older looking students sitting around with books either in their laps, or writing with their weird feather pens. She made her way over to the exit of the room, and stood there for a few seconds, waiting for the door to open. When the door didn't open after a few minutes, she decided upon a different approach.

Walking over to one of the groups of female students who were talking and giggling to themselves, she stood upon her hind legs and propped her front legs on one of the girl's knees. The girl looked down and the group gave a unanimous 'Awww!' and began to pet Lily. She gave a light huff and let them pet her for a few moments before lightly biting the hem of the girl's robes, pulling her towards the door. The girl tilted her head at Lily in confusion for a second before she realized what she wanted from her. The girl got up and followed Lily to the door, opening it when they got to it. "Bye Lily! Don't get into any trouble!" She heard from the girl as the door popped closed.

Once out into the corridor, she just decided to go left, making her way down the hall. Walkin' fast. Portraits passed, and she's adventure-bound. The only noise she heard for several hallways and flights of stairs was the sound of her claws clacking against the stone flooring. She was about to turn around from a dead ended hallway that she had come across, before she heard the sound of someone crying. She was going to just leave, and head back downstairs to explore some more, but she decided instead to investigate who it was.

She made her way along the hall, listening for the sound and sniffing around to find the person. She found them in a small alcove behind a large suit of metal. Poking her head into the darkness, she saw a small girl sitting on a cushioned window sill, curled into a ball and crying. Lily thought for a few seconds before shaking her head. She hated it when people were crying, it reminded her of when her master had had his almost nightly nightmares and he would wake up crying. She walked over to the window and hopped into the empty area next to the girls feet. After a few seconds of the girl not noticing her, she leaned her head down and gently licked the girls hand, startling her on accident.

"Who's there! What do you... Oh... You're Beck's dog aren't you?" The girl asked, giving a sniffle and wiping her face and nose with a handkerchief that she had fished out of her robes. Lily just gave a slight nod and licked the girls hand again. "I'm guessing you heard me crying and came to see who it was, huh?" The girl said, straightening her hair a little and putting the 'kerchief away. "Thank you.. for.. you know... well, maybe you don't know." She said, looking away from Lily who gave a small huff and bumped the girl's hand with her head.

"Oh, you want some attention? I would be happy to pet you for a little bit. Seeing you makes me miss my pets from home a little bit. I have a cat and an owl, though they don't exactly get along." The girl continued rambling to Lily, who just layed next to her and let the girl pet her fluffy fur. This went on for a while, with Lily enjoying the attention whilst the girl just vented her frustrations out to nobody in particular.

"And I just... UGH! I don't know.. It makes me want to just hex everyone for everything and nothing at all, but I'm just a first year. That wouldn't go so well for me and I don't really know any ways to vent my anger and frustration without doing it on someone or something without getting into trouble." The girl continued. Lily just gave a small roll of her eyes and stood, surprising the girl who pulled a small watch out of her pocket and gave a gasp.

"Oh no! It's almost time for dinner! We should get you back to Beck, should we not?" The girl stated, standing and using the reflection of herself in the window to fix her hair a little before she knelt down next to the ball of walking fluff. "Would you like me to carry you to the Great Hall? As a sort of thank you for helping me sort out my feelings and such?" The girl asked Lily, holding her hands out towards the dog.

Lily just gave another huff before jumping into the girl's arms, adjusting into a better postion once the girl had a better hold on her, and they began walking down towards the Great Hall. After several flights of stairs and several halls, they made their way through the large double doors and the hall. The girl continued walking along until Lily saw they were approaching Caleb and his group of friends.

"Ah! There you are Lily! I was wondering where you had gotten off to. And it seems you made a new friend along the way. Thank you for escorting my companion, Miss?" Caleb tapered off, holding his hands out to retrieve Lily from the girl.

The girl gave a light smile and hugged Lily lightly before handing her over to her owner. "Greengrass. My name is Daphne Greengrass. Your fluffy companion found me sulking in a dark corner and decided to comfort me for a bit." The now named Daphne replied. She gave Lily a light pat on her head before starting to turn to walk away.

"Hey Greengrass, would you like to maybe study together either in the library or during class some time? You can never have too many friends, ya know?" Caleb asked, giving her a slight smile.

"I think I might like that. Until next time, Beck." She said, smiling at him and walking back to her table. It wasn't until he had sat back down that he noticed that Greengrass had been wearing Slytherin colors. He didn't personally mind, but he wasn't sure about everyone else.

They all finished their dinner, discussing their thought about the girl and opinions about whether they should trust her or not. It turned out to be a decent enough discussion, and they all agreed to at least give the girl a chance.

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It was a few days before Halloween that the quintet and a few new additions could be found in the library, studying at two tables that had been pulled together to help fit their new numbers. The current group consisted of students from every house, actually. There was Neville and Parvati Patil from Gryffindor. From Slytherin there was Daphne Greengrass and her bubbly friend Tracey Davis. Hufflepuff supplied Susan Bones, who had known Neville from their childhood from the pureblood balls and gatherings, who also brought a friend, Hannah Abbot. Lastly our usual Ravenclaw quintet was accompanied by Padma Patil, Parvati's twin.

Harry and Caleb shared a look with Neville, being the only boys out of the group and feeling horribly outnumbered. Caleb couldn't really even count Lily as an ally, with her being a female herself, but mostly for the fact that she was in Daphne's lap soaking up attention from all of the girls who were giggling around their table. Madam Pince had even come over to order them to be quieter in her precious library, but had lessened her ferocity when she saw Lily. The surly librarian even surprised the students when she stopped by to pat Lily on the head a few times and gave a rare smile.

All in all, the large group of students had had fun on that day. Daphne had been curious as to why the boys were all covered in bruises, to which Hermione explained Caleb's workout regimen to her. She perked up at the idea, having seen several kung fu movies with Tracey, as she was a half-blood. Harry, Neville, and Caleb were all very surprised when she asked them if she would be able to join them during one of their mornings, to gauge if she would be interested in joining them for a longer period.

The boys all shared an equal look of surprise, and Neville just shrugged and said he didn't mind, to which the other two said it was also fine with them. They all discussed that it would probably be best that she joined them after Halloween, as they were taking a light break in their workouts. Harry mumbled that it was more for them to allow their current bruises to disappear, making the group laugh at his good hearted grumbling.

Caleb had also been practicing his occlumency training from the tome that Flitwick had given him. He had made some headway into the book and the meditation he had learned previously hadn't been all too different from what was described in the book. He had decided that once he learned at least the start of occlumency, that he would share the book with the rest of the group. He could imagine how excited the girls would get at reading such an ancient tome. Caleb grew a wry smile at how much his life had changed since he had moved to Great Britain. He hadn't had very many friends growing up where he had in the states, and his only real friends wound up being his pets or video games.

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Halloween Day!

Harry woke up feeling somewhat confused. He was feeling happy at the fact that he had someone to celebrate Halloween with, but he also felt as if he shouldn't be celebrating the day that his parents had been murdered. He decided to just get ready for the day, and see how the day pandered out.

He made his way downstairs after finishing his morning shower, feeling somewhat better since he had been able to sleep in with no morning routine lately. He made his way over to the group's usual table, finding it oddly empty, and sat down in his normal chair. He shimmied into a more comfortable position and pulled out his Transfiguration homework to work on.

He finished his homework just in time for him to make his way down to breakfast. He was a little sad that his friends weren't around to talk to, but he was sure they were just busy somewhere in the castle. Caleb would sometimes disappear somewhere with Neville, while the girls went to do.. girly stuff. He heaved a sigh as he sat down for breakfast at the empty end of the Ravenclaw table and began filling his plate with toast, eggs, and bacon.

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Meanwhile, somewhere else in the castle

Hermione, Luna, Mindy, and Caleb were all working together to put up some decorations for the Halloween party that they had wanted to surprise Harry with. They had even grabbed Neville, Tracey, Susan, and Hannah to help them out so they could finish faster.

Caleb looked around the room they had confiscated for their party. He was beginning to like the way it looked and hoped that Harry liked it as much as they did, with as much work as they'd been putting in since earlier this morning to get it ready. Suddenly, Luna had a quick thought.

"Uh... Guys.. Shouldn't we have left some sort of note for Harry? We could have told him we were going to see Neville or something. Anything really." Luna asked, a frown marring her face.

The rest of the first years suddenly grew somewhat guilty at that thought, with Hermione grabbing Mindy and dragging her out of the room to find Harry quickly.

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Harry just heaved a sigh, closing the book he had in front of him before he stood to leave. He returned the book back to it's proper shelf and walked out of the library, not feeling in the greatest of moods. He was quite surprised when he was knocked off of his feet be a speeding blur of brown hair. He and the person on top of him were a singular body of tangled limbs, sprawled on the floor.

Harry groaned lowly, lightly trying to stand back up without hurting himself or the other person any further. He was surprised when the person atop of him hugged him tightly, making him tense a little, thinking he had done something wrong.

"Harry! We finally found you! We've been looking for you for about an hour now." Hermione cried out sadly. "We were doing something and forgot to leave you a note telling you we'd be by to grab you."

Harry was so surprised that it was Hermione that had run into him that he didn't really react to what she was saying until they had fully stood back onto their feet and brushed their robes down, straightening them somewhat. "Why were you looking for me?" He asked with a raised eyebrow, turning to walk with them slowly.

Mindy decided to reply while Hermione tried to tame her hair somewhat, with it being so bushy it was hard keeping it out of her face in a normal situation, let alone after being unceremoniously heaped onto the floor with someone else.

"We all forgot to leave you a note or tell you we would be doing something today, just to let you know where we were and such." Mindy said, giving him an apologetic smile. "We thought that you might have felt left out and might have even come to dislike that everyone besides you were hanging out for something." She finished as they rounded another corner and started down some stairs.

Harry and the girls went back to the common room to just kill time and do some of their remaining homework, all three of them sharing some laughs about the random things they were talking about.

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Caleb and the rest of the group of assorted firsties were putting the finishing touches on the decorations. Luna was busy talking to a small elf-looking creature, asking if she, the elf, would be able to bring a variety of finger foods, snacks, and puddings up from the kitchen for the party. The elf, who gave a squeaky reply of "Trippy bes right back with firsty Moon's wishes.", popped out of sight for a few minutes while they finished the last of the decor for the room.

When Trippy popped back in, she was joined by several other house elves who all had two platters of snacks each. They each laid the platters onto the tables that Trippy had conjured in the directed corner of the room, sorting them from cleanest to somewhat messiest snacks. Trippy then snapped her fingers, making several large bowls of different pudding appear on the remaining empty table.

Caleb and Neville began snickering quietly at how starry eyed Luna and Hannah became at the sight of such a variety of pudding. That was something the girls had become quick friends over, their love of the 'Snack food of Morgana herself' - pudding! They politely dragged both girls away from the pudding table, having to bribe them with a solitary bowl of the delicious substance. Tracey was looking back and forth in the hall, as if waiting for someone before she gave a shrug and closed the , all they had to do was wait for Mindy and Hermione to retrieve Harry at the appropriate time. They were also waiting upon the invited professors, somewhat exuberant at the chance of spending time with their favorite teachers.

The day before, Hermione and Luna had also asked everyone else if they wanted to maybe ask their heads of house if they had wanted to join them for the festivities. Caleb and Neville had just given a shrug before giving some nods. Susan and Hannah gave excited squeals before rushing off to ask Professor Sprout. Both Daphne and Tracey had both said there was no point in asking Snape, as he would probably just make a snide comment and not show up. Hermione saw to it that Luna, Mindy, and herself stayed behind during a charms class to ask Professor Flitwick. Neville had just gone to McGonagall's office, with Harry and Caleb tagging along just to do it. All three Professors said that they would attend if their schedules permitted, Though Sprout and Flitwick seemed to be excited at the prospect of being invited to spend time with some of their favorite students.

Harry, Hermione, and Mindy walked in through the door, with Harry's eyes bulging in surprise at the largely decorated room and several tables covered in snacks. Everyone gave him a light pat on the shoulder, showing him that he had friends that were there for him in his time of need. They were all surprised themselves when Harry burst out into laughter.

"Thanks everyone.. I was having trouble deciding whether I should celebrate Halloween or not, being the day my parents passed. But it seems like it would be a better idea for me to be happy instead of moping around." Harry said, wiping tears of happiness from his eyes. "I've also never celebrated any holidays before, so this is a new experience for me in every aspect." He mumled under his breath, not knowing that most of the others had actually heard him anyways, though they all shared a look that stated they should just let it drop from their.

They all decided to just start the party, and let the Professors join in whenever. They all grabbed plates and piled them high with snacks before they made their way over to a circle of comfy armchairs and sat talking and laughing with one another. Harry decided that he would start celebrating Halloween from now on, as long as he had friends, he would be fine.

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Well then! Hope you liked the small Lily part. This chapter was more of a filler chapter, as nothing of horrible importance really happened. There were some settled insecurities, some cemented friendships and a few cute snippets. Hope you enjoyed the fifth installment of Conspiracy of Ravens!

Review/Favorite/Follow at your own leisure! Have a wonderful day!


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